2 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



But long before the Indian came to America the 

 continent was inhabited by puny races that equaled 

 and in some cases perhaps surpassed him in arts and 

 manufactures, certainly in their architecture, and still 

 more certainly in their laws and customs. Like the 

 Pueblo Indians, they lived and still live — for they have 

 not been extirpated, as the greater part of the Indians 

 have — in communities occupying a single dwelhng, 

 each a nation by itself, and, unlike human societies, 

 every member more interested and careful for the gen- 

 eral welfare than for that of any individual. It is true 

 such races are insects. They do not resemble human 

 beings ia outward shape, but there is more in common 

 between these small, strangely formed creatures and 

 ourselves than is generally supposed ; and the fact 

 that they have developed a social order in some re- 

 spects at least far in advance of any that human 

 beings have ever been able to establish, makes it worth 

 our while to study their manners and customs ; for it 

 is not impossible that even from tribes of insignificant 

 insects, which are generally viewed with disgust or 

 contemptuous indifference, we may learn something 

 useful. 



Among human beings, although each family usu- 

 ally has a house to itself, it often happens, where there 

 is comparatively little space and a large number of 

 people living together, several families reside in one 

 building. Indeed, in the more crowded districts of 

 large cities more than one family live on the same 

 floor, and there is often at least one separate family 

 in each and every room. There are other reasons 



