roTH] HUTS AND HOUSES 261 
309. But orthodox or not, the shape referred to in section 307 
is one that was constant in the Uaupes River district in Wallace’s 
day. All the tribes on the Uaupes construct their dwellings after 
one plan which is peculiar to them. Their houses (maloka) are 
the abode of numerous families, sometimes of a whole tribe. The 
plan is a parallelogram with a semicircle at one end—the back (pl. 
61 A,B). The dimensions of one at Juarite were 115 feet in length 
by 75 feet broad and about 30 feet high. This house would hold 
about a dozen families, comprising nearly 100 individuals. In times 
of feasts and dances 300 or 400 are accommodated in them. On the 
sides are little partitions of palm leaf thatch dividing off rooms for 
the separate families. Roof and sides of thatch... At the gable 
end is a large doorway, 6 feet wide and 8 or 10 feet high. The door 
is a large palm mat, hung from the top, supported by a pole during 
the day, and which is let down at night... At the semicircular 
end is a smaller door, which is the private entrance of the tushatia, 
or chief, to whom this part of the house exclusively belongs 
(ARW, 341). 
310. In the course of half a century, however, the ground plan 
would seem to have been gradually altered, the rounded end being 
replaced by one similar to that in front, so that the ground plan has 
become rectangular (pl. 61C). The construction of such a “common 
house,” or maloka, is the same, whether it be large or small. Three 
frames, each formed of two posts joined at their upper ends by a 
crosspiece (tiebeam), help to support the gradually sloping roof, 
while from the middle of each tiebeam there proceeds a vertical one, 
with a forked extremity that supports the ridgepole, which, in addi- 
tion, is propped up with a few, usually four, horizontal braces. 
(Braces have already been referred to in other Indian houses (sec. 
306).) These frames are situated at right angles to the length of 
the building, so as to form a free alleyway beneath them, while on 
their outer sides run two rows of five or six smaller posts fixed close 
to the very low side walls. Horizontal beams (runners) running the 
length of the roof join the elbows of the three frames and the tops 
of the four rows of smaller posts. It is to these runners that the 
rafters are attached. The roof projects well over the front as a sure 
protection from the rain (KG,1,71). It will be observed that in ad- 
dition to its proper function as a point of attachment for the rafters 
the runner also acts as a wall plate. 
311. A similar method of construction with frames (i. e., two side 
posts connected with a tiebeam) is to be seen in the rectangular 
houses of the Arawak (fig. 75), Warrau, and coastal Carib of Dem- 
erara. On account, however, of the differentiation here of run- 
ner from wall plate, now distinct and separate, the tiebeam, which 
