334 William F. Daniell, Esq., on the Ethnography of 



diversity of bypaths, that, in similitude, approached the dubious 

 windings of some mysterious labyrinth. Formed by the contracted 

 spaces between the opposite walls and projecting roofs, their due 

 ventilation and cleanliness was more or less impeded ; consequently, 

 they always continued in a dirty condition, and were likewise subject 

 to that fetid effluvia, generated by the accumulation of filth and other 

 domestic refuse thrown out by their occupants, who, from a constitu- 

 tional indolency or love of ease, were neither impressed with the 

 necessity of adhering to any sanatory precautions, nor yet endea- 

 voured to obtain the salubrity that would spring from the removal 

 of such morbific agents. 



The houses are constructed of swish, a name bestowed on the com- 

 positions of mud or other loamy soils, well triturated with water, for 

 such appliances. In style of architecture they resemble the mud 

 cottages which still prevail in most of the rural districts of England. 

 The foundations invariably consist of small fragments of sandstone, 

 embedded in an earthy cement, and elevated two or three feet above 

 the ground, sloping obliquely inwards, so that the base may corre- 

 spond to the eaves of the roof, and the rain, as it pours from above, 

 may fall on substances sufficiently durable to resist its solvent effects. 

 Upon this elevation the compost is placed in successive layers, each 

 of which is allowed to harden in the sun previous to any further 

 depositions, which continue to be superadded in regular gradation, 

 until the height of ten or fifteen feet has been attained. Its covering 

 is completed by a thatch specially provided for this purpose, whose 

 close adaptation renders it impervious to the heavy torrents of the 

 rainy season. The doors, framework, beams, window sills, and the 

 neat jalousies fitted therein, are executed, with all other wooden fix- 

 tures, by native artificers, after European designs, and confer an aspect 

 both of modesty and comfort, which externally assimilates them to the 

 humbler dwellings of more enlightened communities. They are usually 

 built in an oblong or quadrangular form, having an unroofed court- 

 yard in the centre, around which the different compartments of the 

 household are distributed. Should the central area be of such magni- 

 tude as to admit of its twofold partition, it is conveniently separated 

 into an inner and outer yard by means of a divisional septum of swish. 

 When this takes place, the latter is allotted to the slaves and family 

 dependents, or portions of it are converted into cookhouses or kitchens, 

 workshops, and other indispensable purposes. The rooms selected 

 for the appropriation of the owner and his near relatives, have, in 

 their internal embellishment, a greater share of consideration devoted 

 to them than the others. The walls are whitewashed, and frequently 

 adorned with coloured prints or coarse engravings, and with a scanty 

 array of home furniture is sometimes intermingled a miscellaneous 

 assortment of foreign articles of a more refined manufacture. An 

 interesting question may here be mooted, whether the peculiar style 

 of architectural configuration at present in vogue among these people, 



