THE HAUNTS OF THE PARROT. 121. 
mier gum, and then departed for covering for the 
house, which he and his companion were now to 
erect. It was very near dark, and I did not think 
they could put a roof over our heads before sunset ; 
but when I mentioned this doubt they smiled and told 
me to rest quietly. Coryet then cut about a dozen 
saplings and drew 
them up to the fire. 
Across two crotched 
uprights, some eight 
feet high, he placed 
a pole about twelve 
feet in length for the 
ridge-pole of the 
house. From _ this 
front pole he extend- 
ed three other stout 
limbs to the ground, 
and across theseagain 
at right angles he 
lashed ten others 
about a foot and a half apart. 
Thus he had the frame-work 
of a roof in less than half an hour, and 
every pole was lashed securely without a single rope, 
and fastened firmly without a nail. 
It was interesting to watch him at this work. When 
he had placed the poles in position he left them and 
went to a tree near at hand, and drew down from its 
branches, sixty feet from the ground, several hundred 
feet of lialines and lianes, the latter large as grape- 
vines, the former small as fish-lines, and so lithe and 
tough that a hard knot could be tied in one without 
