SAN PABLO. 



135 



These cottages usually stand upon a 

 parallelogram, from about thirty to thirty- 

 five feet by sixteen, half of which is the 

 kitchen, or general rendezvous of the family, 

 and the remainder divided into two com- 

 partments ; that next the kitchen being 

 the sleeping-room of the married people, 

 through which the bed-room of the young 

 females is entered. The kitchen has an en- 

 trance on each side, and is sometimes en- 

 tirely open, though occasionally cased up 

 with mud walls or bamboo. The timbers, 

 uprights, and rafters, are of the roughest 

 description, consisting of unhewn posts and 

 poles ; the door is a piece of wood roughly 

 shaped with the machetta,^ lashed together 



* This instrument is of general use, and great advan- 

 tage, the blade something like that of a ship's cutlass, only 

 broader, and curved towards the point, made of wrought 

 iron which will bend, but not break ; the handles are 

 usually of wood or horn, rivetted to the iron ; the back is 

 thick, and the edge kept sharp. It is used for a great 



