THE HAUNTS OF THE PARROT. 



121 



mier gum, and then departed for covering for the 

 house, which he and his companion were now to 

 erect. It was very near dark, and I did not think 

 they could put a roof over our heads before sunset ; 

 but when I mentioned this doubt they smiled and told 

 me to rest quietly. Coryet then cut about a dozen 

 saplings and drew 

 them up to the fire. 

 Across two crotched 

 uprights, some eight 

 feet high, he placed 

 a pole about twelve 

 feet in length for the 

 ridge-pole of the 

 house. From this 

 front pole he extend- 

 ed three other stout 

 limbs to the ground, 

 and across these again 

 at right angles he 

 lashed ten others 

 about a foot and a half apart. 

 Thus he had the frame-work 

 of a roof in less than half an hour, and 

 every pole was lashed securely without a single rope, 

 and fastened firmly without a nail. 



It was interesting to watch him at this work. When 

 he had placed the poles in position he left them and 

 went to a tree near at hand, and drew down from its 

 branches, sixty feet from the ground, several hundred 

 feet of lialines and lianes, the latter large as grape- 

 vines, the former small as fish-lines, and so lithe and 

 tough that a hard knot could be tied in one without 



