PLATE 16: TOMBS OF A TRIBE, AFTER SOME GREAT MORTALITY, PROBABLY FROM A DISEASE RESEMBLING SMALLPOX.
Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
NATIVE VILLAGE.
At the base of this hill, on the west, the river took a very sharp turn, forming there a triangular basin, much wider and deeper than any of the reaches. Near it we found a native village in which the huts were of a very strong and permanent construction. One group was in ruins, but the more modern had been recently thatched with dry grass.
PLAN OF NATIVES' HUT.
Each formed a semicircle, the huts facing inwards, or to the centre, and the open side of the curve being towards the east. On the side of the hill of tombs there was one unusually capacious hut, capable of containing twelve or fifteen persons, and of a very substantial construction as well as commodious plan, especially in the situation for the fire which, without any of the smoke being enclosed, was accessible from every part of the hut.
A NATIVE'S HUT--PLAN OF ROOF.
It was evidently some time since this dwelling had been inhabited; and I was uncertain whether such a large solitary hut had not been made during the illness of those who must have died in great numbers, to give occasion for the large tombs on the hill.