28 THE HOUSE I LIVE IN. 



tribes of New Holland, never accommodates 

 but one person, and that is myself. 



I have mentioned the rude huts of some 

 tribes of the New Hollanders ; but theirs will 

 not compare very well with mine throughout. 

 They are made of the bark of a single tree, 

 bent in the middle, and placed with its two 

 ends on the ground. When they have lived in 

 a hut of this kind as long they please, they leave 

 it; and if they go to a new place, build an- 

 other : and the old one is taken possession of 

 by any that choose. Whereas I always carry 

 my house with me wherever I go. You will 

 interrupt me, perhaps, by saying that the snail, 

 the tortoise, the oyster, and the lobster, do the 

 same ; and you are right. 



The house I live in is good for nothing at all 

 for any one but myself; and when I leave it, 

 it- will immediately go to decay. I would not 

 exchange it, however, if I could. I like it 

 as the Icelander does his frozen country 

 better than any other. 



FURNITURE. Lastly, I have already con- 

 fessed that my furniture is not of the most 

 fashionable kind. Of this the reader can 



