The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-07-27
THEY LIVE IN TREE TOPS.
The Strange Mid-Air Homes of a Tribe o.
South American Savages.

There is tribe of South American
savages whose singular mode of exist
ence gave the name of Venezuela
Little Venice-to that northern pro-
vince. The villages of these people are
built over the bosom of great fresh
water lake, which lies contiguous to the
gulf of Maracaibo. To escape from
the mosquito, then, these people long
ago abandoned the land, and, sinking
piles into the lake, built their houses
on them. Here natures gifts seem
singularly opportune, for not only does
the lake offer miles of surface not ex-
ceeding five feet in depth, but the
neighboring mountain sides furnish
tree exactly suitable for piles. This is
species of ironwood, so hard as to
turn the edge of an AK. 1t seems in
credible to the N. Y. Journal that
without metal tools the savages could
fell, trim and drive in place these
trees, but the evidence that they did is
there. To further strengthen the
piles nature, in the course of a few
years of subversion, covers them with
a deposit of lime which practically
converts them into pillars of stone.
Secure on these substantial supports
the native builds his hut, using no
metal, nails or bolts, but once more
going to the vegetable world for sub
stitute. This he finds in the sipo, which
he uses green to bind beams, rafters
and other parts of his structure with.
| The sipo dries and contracts, and no
band of iron could be more rigid or
nearly as durable. These saVages are
not by any means the only lake-dwel-
! lers known; for besides the Swiss lake
| dwellers of prehistoric tunes. there are
the Lake Prasias dwellers mentioned
by Herodotus, who thus describes their
way of living:
"Planks fitted on lofty piles are
placed in the middle of the lake, with
a narrow entrance from the mainland
by a single bridge. These piles that
support the planks all the citizens an
| GENTLY placed there at the common
charge, but afterward they established
law to the following effect: When.
ever man marries. for each wife he
sinks three piles, bringing wood from
a mountain called Arbelus,' but every
man has several wives. They live il
the following manners: Every man ha.
a hut on the planks, in which h,
dwells, with a trap door closely ftteC
in the planks. and leading down to thu
lake. They tie the young people will
a cord round the feet, fearing lest thel
should fall into the lake beneath. T.
their horses and beasts of burden the,
give fish for fodder, of which there i
such an abundance that when a maj
has opened his trap door he lets down
an empty basket by a cord into th
lake, and. after waiting short time
draws it up full of fish"
The Dyaks of Borneo are anothel
race of aerial dwellers. They also us
the hard ironwood for piling, ant
elevate their huts twenty and thirt,
feet from the ground. Some of thei
structures deserve a more dignifieC
name than hut; for in some cases the,
have been known to be over 500 fee
in length and capable of accommodate
ING 500 occupants. One reason fo
building on piles is the avoidance Q
snakes and other noxious reptiles S
plentiful in the tropics; but the mos
important reason is that the Dyak
place an extraordinary value on tn
human head as disassociated from tn
body-so much Sc that, for his head
safety, each Dyak makes of his hous
a fort. Near the Dourga straits, ol
the coast of New Guinea, there lives
very singular tribe of Papuans knows
commonly as monkey men, from tn
fact that they climb about in the limb
of the trees with the ease and facilit
! of monkeys. There Is a stretch c
several miles along the coast covere
with dense underground of man
groves. Through the whole length c
this wooded belt these monkey men fl
with outstretched arms and legs, pre-
ferring that mode of locomotion to an
other.