roTH] HUTS AND HOUSES 257 
mentioned, the collar tie is spoken of by a term indicating “ monkey- 
bench.” It is the perch proper for this domestic pet. The rafters, 
with their thicker ends downward, project anywhere from 4 to 6 
feet beyond the wall plate to a height sometimes as low as 3 feet 
from the ground, the side walls never being on the same vertical 
plane as the wall plate, but beyond it. Indeed, these latter are built 
on a framework of light sticks (side-wall posts), stuck into the 
ground and tied above to the rafters outside of their attachment to 
the wall plate. The center of the central tie beam is bound very 
firmly to the main central post. In the round houses of the Trio of 
Surinam the central post very frequently projects a bit beyond the 
roof, and upon this projecting portion is placed an earthen pot 
(GO, 3). These pots are also to be seen on Taruma, Waiwai, and 
Parakuta houses, and either rest upon or are pierced by the pole down 
which they are believed to prevent the rain trickling (JO). On the 
Maopityan circular houses there was a double bell-top roof; to the 
upper and smaller one were attached certain wooden figures that 
swayed with the wind (SR, u, 471). Certain split timbers, wattles, 
etc., are generally laid across adjoining tiebeams to form a staging 
on which to store provisions, weapons, etc., and not infrequently, as 
in Makusi houses, may give rise to a complete flooring on which the 
occupants reside, while visitors, etc., are accommodated on the ground 
floor. It can hardly, however, be described as a two-story house, or 
as a pile dwelling (sec. 314). 
302. The walls of these circular houses, like those of elliptical 
houses, are occasionally left uninclosed (pl. 59 A). Otherwise they 
may be built of leaves, pump wood, bark (pl. 59 B; fig. 73 B), or 
mud; and from the fact that all such variations may be met with in 
the same tribe and district (e. g., Makusi on Rupununi River), it 
seems probable that the differences in material are dependent on local 
or climatic conditions. 
Having fixed certain slender outer and side wall posts into posi- 
tion by tying them to the rafter ends above and jamming them into 
the ground below, the interspaces are filled with kokerit, lu (a palm 
very like turu), or manicol leaves. The first mentioned is folded in 
its length, and attached horizontally, the midrib acting as a runner 
which is tied onto the posts (Makusi, Wapishana). The lu is em- 
ployed (Makusi) in similar fashion, save that the leaf is split and put 
on in pairs like the turu for thatch (sec. 324). The manicol, after 
splitting, is woven into long frames, which are set up vertically, one 
overlapping the other. Or, again, the outer side wall posts may be 
joined up with runners, upon which wild agave leaves (fig. 73 A) are 
made to rest by their own weight (Makusi), or else bark sheets (B) 
of the pump wood (baramalli) may be tied onto them (Makusi). 
