Chap. X.—B. S.J SOUTH-AMERICAN PILE-BUILDERS. 151 
can then be landed direct from the steamer without 
haying to be transferred to tenders, the movements 
of which are regulated by the tides; nor will they 
have to stop any time at Panama. 
I have spent so much time on the coast of the 
Isthmus, during ILM.S. Herald’s survey, that, after 
many years, I am still familiar with it. There is one 
point here that has assumed more than ordinary inter¬ 
est after recent discoveries,—and that is that the In¬ 
dians south of the Gulf of San Miguel do, to this day, 
build their houses upon piles, either into the sea or 
rivers. It is not generally known, or rather not often 
remembered, that many of the American aborigines, on 
their discovery by the Spaniards, were pile-builders; 
the reason why Venezuela was called by that name, 
signifying “ Little Venice,” was that many villages 
on the coast were built on piles; and there is still 
a complete village in the Lake of Maracaibo, church in 
the centre, which is entirely built on piles, the little 
children being secured by ropes from falling into the 
water, just as Herodotus describes the customs as 
prevailing in his days in the Old World. Pile-building 
seems to have been far more general than is sup¬ 
posed. It is still practised in many parts of Polynesia. 
In the Viti Islands I found that nearly every village 
had one or more large pile-buildings either in sea, 
lake, or river, which were exclusively occupied by the 
boys and youths, grown up people of either sex never 
inhabiting them. In the course of ages a number of 
tools, arms, crockery, etc., used by successive genera¬ 
tions of children must naturally be deposited where 
