G-abb.] ' Oi-i [Aug. 20, 



visitor to be overwhelmed with little presents of food. I have been pre- 

 sented within half an hour, in one house, with live calabashes of choco- 

 late, at least half-a-dozen quarts of chicba, a dozen or more ears of green 

 corn, and a dozen ripe bananas. The little boys, with whom I made 

 friends, fared sumptuously, for it wasn't polite for me to refuse any- 

 thing. 



The houses of the Bri-bris are iisually circular, from thirty to fifty feet 

 in diameter, and about the same in height. They are composed of long 

 poles, reaching from the ground to the apex. These rest on a ring of 

 withes or vines, tied in bundles, eight or ten inches thick, and resting on 

 a series of upright crotched posts, set in the ground in a circle about a 

 third smaller than the outer circumference of the house. Above this ring, 

 if the house is large, are one or two more, according to its size, not rest- 

 ing on posts, but tied to the sloping poles. The whole is thickly thatched 

 with palm leaves, and finished at the apex by an old earthen jar, to stop 

 the leaks. There is but one aperture to the house, and this is a large, 

 squarely cut door, left on one side. Over the door there is sometimes 

 made a little shed, to keep the rain out. The interior is always very dark. 

 Sometimes, among the Bri-bris, instead of building the house in a circular 

 form, it is elongated and has a ridge-pole, but the ends are rounded, and 

 the door is in one of the ends. 



Formerly the Cabecar houses were built in the same style ; but now 

 most of them are mere sheds, sloping to one side only and open at the 

 ends and in front. The most pretentious house I saw in Cabecar was a 

 roof sloping to both sides from a ridge pole to the ground, but open at 

 both ends. The Tiribi houses are simply a roof raised on short posts, 

 sloping both ways from the ridge but open all around below. Mr. Lybn 

 told me that formerly the Tiribis as well as the Cabecars had round houses 

 like the Bri-bris, but that the present style is due only to carelessness. 

 The tribes are dwindling so rapidly that they seem to have lost heart even 

 in so important a thing as building comfortable houses ; and are content to 

 put up with any make-shift that will shelter them from the weather. The 

 Bri-b]-i houses are not only better constructed but are much better fui'- 

 nished than those of their neighbors. Beds are placed aroiTnd the house 

 in the space between the posts and the sloping sides. These are made 

 by planting in the ground two sticks, forked at the upper ends ; cross- 

 sticks are laid on these, the other ends being lashed with vines to the 

 sloping rafters. Over these two horizontal sticks are placed boards made 

 of the outer shell of a species of palm ; or wild cane is lashed close together. 

 In front of the beds are slung hammocks, between the posts, or to the ends 

 of horizontal sticks projecting a little beyond them. The tire is placed 

 opposite the door near the back side of the house. It is kept up by plac- 

 ing close together, the ends of three large logs which are pushed up as 

 they burn off. Over the fire is a barbacue or frame, sufficiently high to 

 let people pass under it. On it is placed food to keep it out of the way 

 of the dogs, pigs, chickens, and ants. The smoke of the tire is sufficient 



