Before the door, on a neat clean level space, enclosed by a
hedge covered with a sweet-scented white flower, we found
several heaps of corn and straw, and several of the wooden
mortars in which the rice is pounded, also a number of
vessels, some filled with water and others with rice. Cooking
utensils were lying about, and a number of fishing 'lines
coiled neatly in baskets, and split fish spread out to dry on
the top of little corn ricks on one side of the court. The
inside was dark and uncomfortable; the mud floor was full
of hollow places j the walls were black with soot, and every
thing looked dirty. On the left of the entrance two large
metal boilers, twenty inches deep, were sunk in the brickwork,
the upper part being about a foot above the floor.
The fire-place was between the boilers, and on the hot
embers lay three split fish. On the wall opposite to the
fire were shelves, having a number of cups, basons, and
cooking utensils, principally o f coarse stone ware,- and some
few of a sort of bell-metal. The number of-inhabitants in
one house must be considerable, if we can form an estimate
from the quantity of their dishes and vessels. There were
three neat small pieces of furniture on one of the shelves,
the use of which we could not discover ;'th e y were made
•of wood,* elegantly carved and varnished, with a round
top about a foot in diameter, and four legs a foot and a half
long. The roof was well constructed, the rafters being mortised
into the ends of the horizontal beams, and tied to the
middle by a perpendicular beam or King-Post. Over the
rafters is laid a net-work of rods, to which the thatch is tied.
There was no chimney to this house, and only one window
made of slender bars of wood, forming square spaces three
inches by two, covered by a thin semi-transparent paper
defended by the roof, which extends so far beyond the wall
as to shelter it not only from the rain but from the sun.
Most of the houses had a sort of raised verandah under
the eaves, about a foot or more above the ground, extending
from the door on either hand to the end of the house; these
places, were neatly levelled, and must afford a cool seat.
The walls, of the houses are from six to eight feet high, and
from fourteen to twenty feet long; the top of the roof being
about fourteen. The walls are of' stone and mud, the door
moves on the bar, which forms one o f its sides; this bar is
prolonged, and works in holes in the beam above, and a stone
below. There was a back door to the house which we
examined. On opening this: we found a bare bank of earth
as high as the house, a t the distance of three feet from
the walls, and a hedge rising still higher on the top; this
effectually excluded all light;
This minute, survey of the house being completed, we