TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 313 



able shelter. The houses in general are seldom 

 above one story high ; the walls are almost in all 

 cases of thin rafters or laths, interwoven with twigs, 

 plastered with loam, and covered with a white 

 clay (tabatinga), which is found here and there 

 on the banks of the rivers ; the roof is carelessly 

 covered with pantiles or shingles, rarely with maize 

 straw, and the wall has in it one or two wooden 

 latticed windows. The interior corresponds with 

 the light construction and scanty materials. The 

 entrance, which is generally half or entirely closed 

 by a latticed door, leads directly into the largest 

 room in the house, which being without boards, 

 and often with unwhitewashed walls, resembles a 

 barn. This division serves for the habitation of 

 the family. Store-rooms, and in some cases a side- 

 room for guests, occupy the remainder of the front 

 of the building. The back part contains the 

 apartments for the wife and the rest of the family, 

 who, according to the Portuguese fashion, must 

 immediately withdraw on the entrance of strangers. 

 From this we enter the veranda, which generally 

 runs along the whole length of the building, and 

 opens into the court-yard. A similar veranda is 

 sometimes annexed to the front of the house. The 

 kitchen and servants' apartments, generally miser- 

 able sheds, lie opposite the house, at the further 

 end of the court. The furniture of these houses 

 is confined to the most necessary articles ; often 

 they have no more than a few wooden benches and 



