The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-23

The Aerial Home of an American Set
tier in Nicaragua.

New York Sun.
Il had heard of old man Wildeson's house
in a tree almost from the day | set foot in
Nicaragua" said T. F. Drew, who recently
returned from Central America. Later,
when business took me to Rama, on the
Rama river, | not only saw it, but was
guest in it for a day and a night, besides
taking several informal dinners and break
fasts there during my stay at Rama. That
H. Wildeson is a good deal of a mechanical
genius is shown in the construction of his
strange aerial home. 1t is a three-story
house, built in an ebo tree, sixty feet from
the ground. The wood of the ebo tree is
like iron for strength and solidity, so the
branches make a safe and sufficient support
for the structure. The house is built about
the trunk which stands in the center as
the miZzenmast of a ship rises through the
cabin. l recall a dinner there to which /
was invited and unexpected guests arrived
so that the table ordinarily used was not
large enough to accommodate us all. and a
specially constructed table was set COM
pletely around the tree trunk. 1t answered
the purpose very we'll, except that no guest
could see the one opposite to him: but we
had a very enjoyable dinner all the same
THE house, while not precisely spacious
contains a kitchen. dining room, sleeping
rooms, and a bathroom, supplied with water
stored there in tank. The furniture is
good, though simple, hammocks, after the
fashion of the country, taking the place of
beds. To get up and down between the
ground an elevator is used, SO constructed
with blocks and tackle that the person US
ing it raises himself or controls his de-
built of jointed boards, firmly bound by a.
wire cable, and further secured by wire
strands passing about the structure.
Mr.. WiIdesons idea in building this lofty
and novel house was to get above the ma
laria. 1t seems to answer this purpose, and
has other advantages. Mosquitoes and flies
will seldom rise to such a height, and the
house is practically free from those forms
of insect and reptile life that in this coun-
try infeSt houses built upon the ground
1t is cool in summer, and the view it COM
mands is superb. The owner, an old Louis
lana planter came to Rama many years
ago, took up an estate and began the rails
ing of bananas. To this he has since added
the planting and culture of the rubber tree
and from this industry he bids fair to real
ize a fortune He has prospered from the
first, and already is well to do. One of his
supplies buyers with ice all up and down
the river.
Below his house. suspended from limb
is his chicken house The chickens run
about on the ground through the day, pick
ing up their living; at the end of the day
the roost in this dangling house. A thing
that struck me curiously was the sight of
an twelve-foot boa constructor gliding about
on the ground at the foot of the tree
climbing over the roofs of the laborers
cabins, even entering them, and in general
making himself perfectly at home on the
plantation.
. .Nobodyd think of harming him. said
the old man to me when | spoke to him
about the big snake. He's perfectly harm
less TO any one and he keeps the place
clear of mice and moleS that eat the roots
Eat chickens, Never knew him to do such
a thing Still while they're little. l don't
nut temptation in his way. but keep them
in a snake-proof coop of wire netting.