abode while I remained in the valley, and as I was necessarily
placed upon the most intimate footing with its occupants, I may
as well here enter into a little description of it and its
inhabitants. This description will apply also to nearly all the
other dwelling-places in the vale, and will furnish some idea of
the generality of the natives.

Near one side of the valley, and about midway up the ascent of a
rather abrupt rise of ground waving with the richest verdure, a
number of large stones were laid in successive courses, to the
height of nearly eight feet, and disposed in such a manner that
their level surface corresponded in shape with the habitation
which was perched upon it. A narrow space, however, was reserved
in front of the dwelling, upon the summit of this pile of stones
(called by the natives a 'pi-pi'), which being enclosed by a
little picket of canes, gave it somewhat the appearance of a
verandah. The frame of the house was constructed of large
bamboos planted uprightly, and secured together at intervals by
transverse stalks of the light wood of the habiscus, lashed with
thongs of bark. The rear of the tenement--built up with
successive ranges of cocoanut boughs bound one upon another, with
their leaflets cunningly woven together--inclined a little from
the vertical, and extended from the extreme edge of the 'pi-pi'
to about twenty feet from its surface; whence the shelving
roof--thatched with the long tapering leaves of the
palmetto--sloped steeply off to within about five feet of the
floor; leaving the eaves drooping with tassel-like appendages
over the front of the habitation. This was constructed of light
and elegant canes in a kind of open screenwork, tastefully
adorned with bindings of variegated sinnate, which served to hold