The Primitive Inhabitants 



only as strongholds to withdraw to in times of danger — 

 continued in use to a later day. A village precisely 

 similar, inhabited by the Indians on the northern coast 

 of South America, was discovered by Ojeda, before 

 1500, and named by him Venezuela. It is mentioned 

 in Navarrete's account of the voyage, and described 

 more fully in the letters ascribed to Vespucius. The 

 natives of New Guinea, when discovered, dwelt in vil- 

 lages precisely like those of the Swiss lakes. These 

 habitations, therefore, have no ethnological value, but 

 are resorted to by nations in early and rude states, in 

 lake countries, just as steep hills and battlemented 

 castles are resorted to in other ages and situations. 



But these people, though rude, were not entirely bar- 

 barous. If they navigated the lakes in canoes, each 

 scooped from a single trunk, they fished with hooks 

 that might be used now, and with nets. Their atten- 

 tion to agriculture is indicated by the manure which 

 seemed to have been heaped up and saved, and by their 

 sickles. Though they depended, particularly in the 

 most ancient settlements, largely upon hunting as well 

 as fishing, yet they kept domestic animals — cattle, 

 sheep, goats, and pigs. Their mechanical skill ranged 

 from rudely chipping stone implements to casting and 

 working bronze and iron with some skill. Their pot- 

 tery, though made by the hand, not with the lathe, and 

 baked in open fires, was sometimes wrought in shapes 

 not without elegance, and ornamented with taste. Frag- 

 ments of linen cloth have been found, some of 

 which must have been made upon a simple species of 

 loom, and one, embroidered with regular designs in 

 needle-work. 



