HOUSE BUILDING 125 



distinction, and although several kinds of bejuco are used 

 in house-building, there are a great many varieties quite 

 unsuited for this or any other purpose. When creepers 

 for construction are not obtainable in the neighbourhood 

 of a settlement, they are brought from a distance, and 

 they then constitute an article of commerce. On the 

 Caura the two kinds of bejuco most commonly employed 

 in building are called Midato and Murcielago. The 

 former belongs to the family of the Aroideae, the latter 

 to that of the Bignoniaceae. In the case of the scandent 

 Mulato, the long roots, after having been cleared of their 

 thorny bark, are usually thick enough to allow of being 

 split into two or four strips. Both kinds are soaked in 

 water before being used, so as to render them pliable. In 

 this region of the woods the construction of a hut or 

 rancheria is a simple matter. All the necessaries are 

 abundant in the forest adjoining the clearing, the only 

 cost being the labour of procuring them. Very often the 

 huts are simply thatched sheds having a part at one end 

 enclosed with palm-branches. It is customary, however, 

 to form the enclosure to which the family retires at night 

 by tying poles close together to the uprights and plastering 

 them over with mud. In such easily constructed huts 

 these people pass their simple lives away. Having but 

 few wants, unacquainted with luxury, satisfied with 

 getting drunk whenever they can afford it, they are con- 

 tent to live as their fathers and grandfathers have done 

 before them ; they have no longing for a more civilised 

 form of existence. 



