60 DWELLINGS. 



In the two principal villages of Faro or Fauro which are named 

 Toma and Sinasoro, a number of tlie houses are built on piles and 

 raised from 5 to 8 feet above the ground, as shown in the accompany- 

 ing plate. But this custom is by no means universal in the same 

 village, and depends, as far as I could learn, on the personal fancy of 

 the owner. Both these villaoes are situated on low level tracts 

 bordering the sea ; but their sites are free from moist and swampy 

 ixround, to the existence of which one miirht have attributed this 

 practice. The houses built on the ground are about 30 feet long, 20 

 feet wide, and 12 or 13 feet high; whilst those raised on piles are 

 considerably smaller, measuring 22 by 15 feet in length and breadth, 

 the building itself being supported on a framework of stout poles 

 lashed on the tops of the piles by broad stripes of rattan. These 

 pile-dwellings are I'eached by rudely constructed steps made after 

 the stvle of our own ladders. The roofs of the houses in these 

 villages have a higher pitch than I have observed in houses 

 of the other islands of the Straits. Their eaves project consider- 

 ably beyond the walls, and the roof is often prolonged at the 

 front end of the building forming a kind of portico. A neat 

 thatch of the leaves of the sago palm covers the sides and roof of 

 each buildino-. 



After remarking that the houses in the Florida Islands are often 

 similarly built on piles not only at the coast, but also on the hill- 

 slopes some distance from the sea, I pass on to briefly refer to the 

 purpose of these pile-dwellings on land. It seemed tome probable 

 that in previous years, when the natives of Faro were not on such 

 friendly terms with their neighbours, the houses were built on piles 

 for purposes of defence against a surprise ; and that when com- 

 parative peace and order reigned, some persons preferred the more 

 commodious house on a ground site to the smaller and less convenient 

 building on piles. Various explanations have been advanced with 

 reference to this custom of building pile-dwellings on dry land, some 

 of which I will enumerate. It is held by some that this custom is 

 but the survival of " therl)nce purposeful habit of building them in 

 the water." The exclusion of pigs and goats and the protection 

 against wild animals have been suggested as probable objects of this 

 practice ; whilst by others it is urged that the purpose of these pile- 

 dwellings is • to obviate the effects ef excessive rain and to guard 

 against damp exhalations from a tropical soil. Whatever may be 

 the cause oi- causes of this custom, it is one which is widely spread, 



