ack or flaw, in
such cases one sheet would form a large and good hut; but even where it
is of a far inferior description, it answers, by a little system in the
arrangement, better than almost any thing else. Projecting, or
overhanging rocks, caverns, hollows of trees, etc. etc., are also
frequently made use of by the natives for lodging houses in cold or wet
weather. When hostile parties are supposed to be in the neighbourhood,
the natives are very cautious in selecting secret and retired places to
sleep. They go up on the high grounds, back among scrubs, or encamp in
the hollows of watercourses, or where there are dense bushes of
polygonum, or close belts of reeds; the fires are very small on these
occasions, and sometimes none are made; you may thus have a large body of
natives encamped very near you without being conscious of it. I have been
taken by a native to a camp of about twenty people in a dense belt of
reeds, which I had gone close by without being aware of their presence,
although I could not have been more than three or four yards from some of
them when I passed.

It has already been remarked, that where many natives meet together, the
arrangements of their respective huts depends upon the direction they
have come from. In their natural state many customs and restrictions
exist, which are often broken through, when they congregate in the
neighbourhood of European settlements.

Such is the custom requiring all boys and uninitiated young men to sleep
at some distance from the huts of the adults, and to remove altogether
away in the morning as soon as daylight dawns, and the natives begin to
move about. This is to prevent their seeing the women, some of whom may
be menstruating; and if looked upon by the young males, it is supposed
that dire results will follow. Strangers are by another similar rule
always required to get to their own proper place at the camp, by going
behind and not in front of the huts. In the same way, if young males meet
a party of women going out to look for food, they are obliged to take a
circuit to avoid going near them. It is often amusing to witness the
dilemma in which a young native finds himself when living with Europeans,
and brought by them into a position at variance with his prejudices on
this point. All the buildings of the natives are necessarily from their
habits of a very temporary character, seldom being intended for more than
a few weeks' occupation, and frequently only