CIRCULAR ARCHITECTURE. — THE LARGER HOUSES. 
517 
floor of both these, is formed of clay tempered with the manure from 
the cattle-pounds, and beaten or spread exactly level, and perfectly 
smooth. Yet when there is within the fence, no more than one 
building, it is often placed on the side of the enclosed space. 
The houses are universally built on a circular plan, and are, 
without a single exception, of the same general form and outward 
appearance ; though varying, to a certain degree, in their internal 
structure or arrangement, according to the wants or inclination of the 
owner. They vary also somewhat in the proportions of the different 
parts, and in size ; but the linear dimensions of the largest were never 
so much as double those of the smallest. 
It is a circumstance worthy of remark, that the Bachapins, and 
perhaps every other Bichuana nation, very rarely exhibit angular 
forms either in their architecture or in any of their works. This, 
whether derived from ancient custom or from natural judgement, 
shows a distinct and peculiar taste, and marks an essential difference 
between their architecture and that of civilized nations. I never saw 
among them a building, or enclosure, with straight, or right lined, 
sides ; and it seems therefore, that their own observation and ex- 
perience, has taught these people by practical demonstration, the 
axiom that a circle comprises a greater area than any other figure of 
equal circumference ; or, as we may suppose their mode of expressing 
it would be, that a greater number of men or cattle may be contained 
in an enclosure of that shape, and that thus, the making of the outer 
fence, or the walls, is performed with as little labor as possible. 
The roof of the larger houses^ covers a space of ground of about 
six-and-twenty feet in diameter, and the eaves are supported at the 
height of four or five feet from the ground, by a number of posts at 
the distance of two, three, or four feet, apart. These posts are 
merely rough stems of trees : sometimes, though seldom, the bark is 
taken oflf to give them a neater appearance ; and in many houses, 
they are connected together by a "dDall formed of sticks neatly plastered 
over with a composition of sandy clay and the fresh manure from the 
cattle-pounds, or grass cut into small pieces. This wall is about half 
