EXAMINE A GREAT HOUSE. 271 



before we could have got at them. On darting 

 into the house, however, we found it quite empty, 

 and were soon met by our men, who had gone round 

 to the back of it, and been equally unopposed. We 

 had now leisure to look about us, and were struck 

 with astonishment at this most remarkable structure. 

 The house, or whatever it might be called, was 

 raised from the muddy ground about six feet, resting 

 on a number of posts placed irregularly underneath 

 it, most of which seemed to be stumps of trees, cut 

 off at that height and left standing. The floor 

 raised upon these seemed to consist of poles fastened 

 across a framework, on which were laid loose planks, 

 made apparently of the outer rind of the sago-palm, 

 split open and flattened and dried. This floor was 

 perfectly level and smooth, and felt firm and stable 

 to the foot. It was about thirty feet in width, and 

 upwards of three hundred feet long. Mr. Walsh 

 and I both stepped it from end to end, and I made 

 it J 09 and he 110 paces long; both our paces were 

 long ones, and I know my own to be upwards of 

 three feet. The roof was formed of an arched 

 frame-work of bamboo, covered with an excellent 

 thatch of the leaves of the sago-palm. It was 

 sixteen or eighteen feet high in the centre, from 

 which it sloped down on either hand to the floor. 

 It was perfectly water-proof, as, though it was 

 still raining hard, not a drop came through. The 

 end walls were upright, made of bamboo poles, 

 close together, and at each end were three door- 



