Evening star., 1899-10-14
welcomed by their ancestors, 400 years be-

welcomed by their ancestors, 400 years be-
fore.
Perched Stills.
As the rows and groups of palm-leaf huts
rose out of the water. perched On stilts
from eight 10 ten feet above its surface. /
could not but be reminded of those other
and more famous dwellings of this sort,
the remains of which were found in the
Swiss lakes. Here before me were people
who lived exactly as those others had
lived: in huts built upon piles driven into
the bottom of the lake, and probably they
had the same reasons for recourse to the
4. water-to avoid their enemies on shore And
they may be equally ancient as to their
origin, also. But, judging from the remains
of the Swiss aborigines. these Americans
were a long ways behind them in their arts
and manufactures, for the former, as we
know-at least some of them-were well ad-
vanced into the bronze age of develop
ment, and one settlement, at least, was in
that of iron: while these had not. at the
time Of their. discovery by white men, got
much farther than the stone age'-as evil
denced by their implements and rude wea-
pons Of flint and serpentine These, their
descendants, are hardly more civilized to-
day. although they have adopted the speech
Of their Spanish conquerors, which they
speak IN addition to their own native
tongue, and they have acquired some of
the most degenerate customs of the Span
iSh civilization.
In this village of Santa Clara there are
about thirty huts all built at about the
sa me height above the water. and from a
quarter to half mile distant from the
nearest land. AS we approached the ham
let all the huts became alive with Indian
humanity, mainly women and children,
who swarmed along the frail stagings.
climbed to the ridge poles and dropped into
the water like monkeys.
Several rude dugouts, followed from great
trees each tree q canoe, made after the
manner in vogue hundreds of years ago,
swung at their moorings beneath the huts,
around and beneath which the water was
two three feet deep 1t came, l remem-
ber all the way from my knees to my
thighs as | waded about in it, photograph
ing the huts and their inhabitants. One had
to be careful where he stepped, as the bot
tom of the lake was covered with the
refuse from the huts, among which / was
surprised to discover broken beer bottles
and other evidences of an advanced civih-
ZatiOn.
4 Queer Garden.
The only reminder of dry land or of its
contiguity was an artificial garden, made
by fitting great palm logs together like
fence and filing in the inclosure, perhaps
fifty feet across, with earth brought from
the shore. Corn, pumpkins and even palm
trees were growing here, in this garden
made with such pain with soil brought from
the distant mainland.
After these water babies" had become
their imaginative powers in speculating
as to what / was doing with my cameras,
which I was pointing at everything in sight,
We were invited into one of the largest
huts where we We're received with a hos
pitalfty that made shudder. For the
women there received us literally with
open arms. and set before us a mess that
we We're expected to eat.
We had seen them engaged I'm preparing
something in a dirty iron pot over an open,
smoldering fire built on fat stones in the
center of the hut. The floor of the hut
was of poles. and we could see the water
beneath anywhere between them, but
thick layer of clay prevented the fire from
burning through. Although reckoned
seemed to me to be crowded together rather
too much for real cleanliness: and the old
iron pot in which hideous hag, toothless
and with unkempt hair, was stirring a stew
did not tempt US to investigate. But the
contents of the pot were at last ladled out,
and We had to make at least q pretense of
enjoying it, seated on the floor, with women
and children crowded about to the number
of twenty or more completely shutting out
the light, which came only through the
open doorway and chinks in the walls and
at the same time making the atmosphere
really sslffocating.
Their Home Life.
The thatch overhead was stuck full of
fishing implements. spears, bows. arrows
and rude baskets and cradles made by
these people; while in one corner a con-
tented pig was snoozing, and In another an
agouti. or native hare from the mainland
was munching leaves. There was not q man
or grown boy In the whole assemblage Of
Indians. as they We're all off hunting or
fshing; but. as for girls and babies, small