POKTABLE HOUSES. 215 



PORTABLE HOUSES. 



CAMELS CARRY THE VILLAGES FROM PLACE TO PLACE. 



The Turcomans, who live on the eastern shores of 

 the Caspian Sea, carry their villages about with them 

 as they travel. When a tribe sets out on a journey, 

 every man packs his wooden house upon a camel, 

 which the animal can easily carry ; and after a spot 

 is reached where he and his friends intend to remain 

 any great length of time, the camels are unloaded and 

 a village started, which it takes about an hour or so to 

 build. 



It is to be remembered that the houses are real 

 houses, and not tents, and that the settlement is not a 

 camp, but a village. 



The traveling house of the Turcoman is a marvel 

 of skill and ingenuity, and is really much lighter, more 

 portable, and can be packed into a much smaller com- 

 pass than any of the so-called portable houses that 

 are manufactured and sold in some parts of our 

 country. 



The frame is made of strong, light wood laths 

 about an inch broad by three quarters of an inch 

 thick, crossing each other, when set up in position, at 

 right angles, about a foot apart, and fastened at each 

 crossing by thongs of rawhide, so as to be movable, 

 and the whole framework may be opened or shut in 

 the same manner as those toys for children that con- 



