50 AN ACCOUNT OF THE WILD THIBES 



houses are abuuL the same as the worst 

 of liiose of the Meiiaiigkabaw, and 1 found 

 several families who lived without having 

 any house al all. These galher tlieni-' 

 selves together to the number of five or six 

 lamilies, they choose a place in the thick- 

 est of the forest, and there tliey clear a 

 circle of about thirty feet in diameter; 

 having cleared this space they surround it 

 with the branches of the trees they have 

 just cut; to this they join other thorny 

 branches they collect from other parts^and 

 so make a sort of bulwark against tigers » 

 bears and panthers, wliich are tliere in 

 good number. Having done that they pro- 

 ceed to establish tlieir dw elling in this en- 

 closure, in the following way : each lamily 

 works to construct what will serve for a bed 

 during the night, a seat ui the day time, 

 a table for tlie repast, and a dwelling or 

 sheher in bad weather; it consists of about 

 fifteen or Iwenty sticks of six leet long. 



