villagers, some standing, others sitting, upon the raised bamboo-platforms
outside their houses, were busy bartering fish for plantains, while the
children played around, apparently unconscious of any danger from falling
into the water. The settlement consisted of over forty houses, mostly of
bamboo, a few of "swish," forming one long irregular line, and three or
four standing away from the rest round a corner of land, after the Fanti
custom. These houses were built on a bamboo-platform supported by piles,
and raised above the water some three and a half feet. One half of the
platform is covered by the house; the other half, left free, is used to
fish from, for the children to play about on, and for receptions when
palavers are held.

'The distance from the shore varies with the overflow of the lake, at the
time of my visit about thirty to forty yards, though for miles beyond this
the ground was saturated with water, whose depth varied from three and a
half to nine feet. The piles are made of stout sticks; the mode of driving
them in is to lash two canoes abreast by means of two sticks or paddles,
placed transversely, leaving an open space of about two and a half feet
between them. Two men in each canoe, and facing each other, then
vigorously twist and churn about the pole, or rather stick, into the soft
bottom of the lagoon. Some fifteen of these poles are thus driven in and
firmly braced together by cross-pieces, upon which the platform is
constructed, and on this again the house is built.

'We stopped here to breakfast before ascending the Bousaha River; and,
while so doing, I counted at one time over forty natives sitting round us
on the platform. I was not without my fears that we should all be
precipitated into the water, but the structure, though in appearance frail
and very rude, was far stronger than what it looked.