VILLAGE OF OLILIET.
After reaching the top of the ladder we passed through a gateway, evidently intended for defence, and then found ourselves in the village of Oliliet, built on a level space of considerable extent, accessible only from seaward by the path we had ascended, which the removal of the ladders would render impracticable, and on the land side protected by a wall, beyond which the jungle appeared to be very dense.
NATIVE TOWN OF OLILIET, TIMOR LAUT.
O. Stanley del.
London, Published by T. & W. Boone, 1846.
The houses, all raised on piles six or eight feet above the ground, could only be entered by means of a ladder leading through a trapdoor in the floor. The roofs neatly thatched with palm leaves, and formed with a very steep pitch projected considerably beyond the low side-walls, and surmounted at the gables by large wooden horns,* richly carved, from which long strings of shells hung down to the ground, giving the village a most picturesque appearance.
(*Footnote. See the view annexed.)
The houses were arranged with considerable regularity, so as to form one wide street of considerable extent, from which narrow alleys branched on each side.
Our conductor led us to the Oran Kaya, whom we found seated in front of a small house in the widest part of the street, opposite to which there was a circular space marked out by a row of stones placed on the ground, and which appeared to be set aside for religious purposes, as they seemed unwilling we should set foot within it. Here the natives soon afterwards assembled in considerable numbers, and were for some time engaged in serious discussion.
ORAN KAYA AND PABOK.