And there are many more which Indians

Esteem, and which have only Indian names.

The houses are of posts fill’d up with mud,

Smooth’d, and wash’d over with a pure white clay;

A palm-tree’s spreading leaves supply a thatch

Impervious to the winter’s storms and rain.

No nail secures the beams or rafters, all

Is from the forest, whose lithe, pendent cords

Binds them into a firm enduring mass.

From the tough fibre of a fan-palm’s leaf