518 HOMES WITHOUT HAITDS. 



ficent tree, under whose shadow were a number of human beings 

 moving about. On approaching nearer, he found that the tree 

 was dose to water, and on looking upwards he saw that a 

 number of little huts were among the branches. Seventeen of 

 these huts were completed, and three more were in course of 

 erection. These were the dwellings of the natives who had 

 been seen under the tree, and were constructed in a very in- 

 genious manner. 



Where two or three branches spread their forked boughs hori- 

 zontally, a number of sticks were laid so as to form a platform ahowt 

 seven or eight feet in diameter. Upon this platform was erected 

 the hut, a necessarily small edifice, consisting of sticks fastened 

 together so as to make a conical-shaped hut, about six feet in 

 diameter at the bottom, and barely as much in height, so that a 

 tall man could hardly lie at full length even when occupying the 

 very centre of it. The roof of the hut was made of grass, 

 and the sides were wattled with the same substance. As the 

 hut was always placed at one edge of the scaffold, the opposite 

 edge afforded a smaU landing or platform, about a foot or eighteen 

 inches in width. The only method of approaching these curious 

 huts was by means of notches cut in the trunk of the tree, the 

 owners not daring to trust to any less difBcult means of ascent. 



We now ask ourselves why the natives chose to live in 

 such small and inconvenient dwellings, when there was ample 

 space on the fertile ground for a village. Moselekatze was the 

 cause. His armed hordes, with their wonderful discipline, had 

 swept over the country, destroyed all military power, carried off 

 the cattle, in which consists the wealth of the South AMcan, 

 killed many warriors, and disarmed the rest. Under these cir^ 

 cumstances, the wild beasts began to increase in number and 

 audacity, and the enfeebled members of the tribe were, perforce, 

 obliged to abandon their ordinary mode of life, and to reside 

 among the branches where the lions could not reach them. 

 During the day they were tolerably safe, but at night they 

 retired to the trees. 



In one of these aerial huts Mr. Moffatt passed the night, 

 having previously shot a rhinoceros, and put the hump into a 

 deserted ant-hill which was used as an oven. During the night 

 the lions came and did their best to devour the meat, the 

 savoury smell of which attracted them on all sides. Fortunately 



