- EXPEDITION TO SURINAM, 233 



is as lari^e as a man, mull be fplit from the top to the CHAP, 

 bottom ill two equal parts, as you would fplit a pen, 

 when a number of thefe half boughs are tied together 

 by their own verdure, and form a bunch ; you next take 

 thefe bunches, and tie them with nebees one above an- 

 other upon the roof of your cottage, as thick as you 

 pleafe, and in fuch a manner that the verdure, which 

 looks like the mane of a horfe, hangs downwards. This 

 covering, which at firfi is green, but foon takes the co- 

 lour of the Englifh reed-thatching, is very beautiful, 

 lafting and clofe, and finiilies your houfe, as I Ixave faid, 

 without the help of a hammer or nails ; the doors 

 and windows, tables, feats, 8cc. are made in the fame 

 manner, fo are the inclofures for gardens, or other places 

 for keeping cattle ; and by this conveniency it is that the 

 rebel negroes never want good houfes, which, if burnt 

 to afhes one day, are again perfedlly rebuilt the next, - 

 though they never rebuild them exactly in the places 

 where they have once been difcovered by Europeans. The 

 Indians, inftead of the manicoles, generally cover their 

 wigjVams with ^as or with troo/y, of which I fliall fpeak 

 on Another occalion. I ought not to forget, that the 

 feeds of thefe trees are contained in a fpatha, near the 

 top, of thirty or forty knotty fibres, forming a fpecies of 

 broom, for which they are ufed throughout the colony; 

 thus, while the manicole fupplies the materials for a 

 houfe, it affords alfo the means of keeping it clean. 

 This tree produces alfo the cabbage, which, as I have 

 Vol. L H h faid. 



