252 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ELH. ANN. 38 
until the final single ridgepole is reached. All the timbers com- 
posing the roof are kept in position with vine rope, and it is hardly 
necessary to add that in all examples of banab any saplings of con- 
venient size and position, if present, will be utilized in situ for the 
uprights. Leaves of various palms (e. g., kokerit, turu, lu, manicol), 
of the agave, wild plantain, etc., are lastly put on for a roof covering. 
The Makusi have a special name, walamuri (land turtle), for this 
particular kind of banab: the roof is supposed to represent the ani- 
mal’s carapace. 
294. Among the Carib, Patamona, Arawak, Makusi, etc., the banab 
may be built on a triangular framework or “marudi-tail,” as it is 
called (fig. 68 B), with two uprights composing the one extremity 
exactly like that in the Arawak structure just described. All the 
horizontal bars, together with the ridgepole, converge to a third post 
or suitable sapling, to which they will be tied at a somewhat higher 
q level. By this means the 
rain will have a_ better 
chance of running off the 
leaves with which the 
scaffolding will be subse- 
quently covered. 
There is a simpler de- 
sign for this triangular 
form of banab adopted 
not only by Patamona but 
also by Makusi and Wapi- 
shana, where the intrica- 
cies of the gable end are all 
done away with, and we have the two uprights held together with a 
crosspiece, upon which the two horizontal sidepieces rest (fig. 69). 
These are similarly tied on the slope to a third post, and crosspieces 
attached to them from above. On the first occasion that I saw two 
such triangular banabs attached to the one tree I could scarcely dispel 
the idea which immediately arose that possibly some such arrange- 
ment of two or three similar structures arranged round the one central 
post might have given rise to the conception of the circular houses 
met with among these people. Subsequent investigation, however, 
has made me think differently. 
295. A banab, in the shape of a lean-to, is of very common occur- 
rence. In its simplest form this may be composed of two uprights 
(posts, saplings in situ, ete.), joined by a crosspiece from 4 to 5 feet 
off the ground, against which any large leaves (e. g., truli, kokerit) 
are pressed, with their stalks stuck into the ground. On the other hand, 
the same shape of banab may be built with a similar scaffolding (pl. 
54) as its permanent prototype (sec. 298), though in miniature. 
Itc, 69.—Simpler form of triangular banab. 
