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pieces of wood, either with soga or twine, made from the hemp of 

 the country, with the bark of a water tree not unlike the poplar, or 

 with thongs. Some have only a thick wattled wall of myrtle, or 

 broom ; others have the chinks in the wattling filled in with clay, 

 and whitewashed either with lime, — which the natives knew how to 

 prepare from beds of shells found in the country before the invasion 

 of the Spaniards, — or with a kind of white ochre, which is very fine, 

 and is found in pretty large beds in different parts of the country. 

 The roofs are more solidly constructed, having usually over the 

 supporting rafters a layer of branches plaistered with mud, and 

 covered with the leaves of the Palma Tejera, or thatch palm, 

 which abounds in the valleys of Chile. Broom, reeds, and a long 

 fine grass, are also used for roofs. However poor the house, there is 

 always a separate hut for cooking at a little distance. 



The better houses, mine for instance, have very solid walls, often 

 four feet thick, of unburnt bricks of about sixteen inches long, ten 

 wide, and four thick. These, like the mortar in which they are 

 bedded, are formed of the common earth, which is all fit for the 

 purpose in this neighbourhood. When a man wishes to build, he 

 digs down a portion of the nearest hill, and waters the loose earth till 

 it acquires the consistence of mortar ; a number of peons, or country- 

 men, then tread it to a proper smoothness and consistency ; after 

 which a quantity of chopped straw is added, which is again trodden 

 till it is equally distributed through the mass, which is of course 

 more solid for the bricks. These bricks are formed in a wooden 

 frame, and then placed in the shade to dry, after which they are 

 exposed to the sun to harden. After the walls are built they are 

 generally allowed to stand a short time to settle before the rafters 

 are laid on, and indeed the roof is a formidable weight. A very 

 thick layer of green boughs, leaves and all, is first fastened with 

 twine upon the rafters, whose interstices are pretty closely filled up 

 with canes ; a layer of mortar, or rather mud, of at least four inches 

 thick, is spread above that ; and in that mud are bedded round tiles, 

 whose ridge rows are cemented with lime-mortar, a thin coat of 



