258 ARTS AND CRAFTS OF GUIANA INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 38 
These bark sheets are as much as 5 feet in height. Finally, as is very 
commonly the case in the cold open savannas and on the mountains 
(Makusi, Patamona, Taurepang, etc.), the interspaces between the 
wall posts can be inclosed with a double latticework of vertical and 
horizontal rods, so as to form squares from 5 to 6 inches across (pls. 
60 A,B; 76). These squares are then filled in with mud, but no ad- 
mixture of grass, which subsequently hardens. In Schomburgk’s 
time the Wapishana houses, unlike those of the Makusi, had no walls 
(ScO, 84) ; but this statement does not hold good for the present day. 
303. In the smaller houses there 
is usually but one door, a very low 
and narrow one; in the larger there 
are often two, placed opposite each 
other, the front one in such cases 
being reserved for the men. In the 
latter circumstances the two halves 
of the interior are roughly divided 
for the use of the sexes, but, as in 
other houses, the building may be 
occupied by several families, each 
having its own hearth. The door 
is made either of plaited leaf 
(manicol, kokerit) , of ite-leaf stalks 
fixed vertically by rods piercing 
them above and below, of bark 
sheets, or of deerskin. It is re- 
moved bodily to one side during the 
daytime. 
. 304. Certain structural varia- 
tions in these circular houses are 
Fig, 73.—Walls of circular and elliptical Gasca ee 
houses. A, Wild agave leaves; B, (Taurepang). There may be (pl. 
bark: 57, fig. 1 B) two forked main posts 
(a, a) supporting a miniature ridgepole (7m) situated in the shorter 
axis of the building, which has become slightly elliptical. The first 
structure of this nature that I saw was the house of Jesus, a Taure- 
pang, about 10 miles southwest of Mount Roraima, and called from 
me the remark that the method of construction was a freak on the 
part of the occupant. The latter and my own Indians informed me, 
however, that the shape was not uncommon—that of the sawari seed 
(Pekea tuberculosa) , the name that is applied to this type of building. 
The shorter and longer dimensions of the particular house in question 
were 34 and 38 feet, respectively. 
