In Caffraria, in Africa, there is an “inhabited tree,” which travelers
thus describe: “It stands at the base of a range of mountains, due east
from Kurrichaine, in a place called ‘Ongorutcie Fountain.’ Its gigantic
limbs contain seventeen conical huts. These are used as dwellings, being
beyond the reach of the lions, which, since the incursion of the
Mantates from the adjoining country, when so many thousands of persons
were massacred, have become very numerous in the neighborhood, and
destructive to human life. The branches of the tree are supported by
forked sticks, or poles, and there are three tiers, or platforms, on
which the huts are constructed. The lowest is nine feet from the ground,
and holds ten huts; the second, about eight feet high, has three huts;
and the upper story, if it may be so called, contains four. The ascent
to these is made by notches cut in the supporting poles; and the huts
are built with twigs, thatched with straw, and will contain ten persons,
conveniently.”
[Illustration: TREE-HOUSE IN CAFFRARIA.]
A view of one of these trees is given in the cut on the previous page.
Other villages have been seen by travelers, built somewhat similarly to
the above; but these were erected on stakes, instead of trees, about
eight feet above the ground, about forty feet square, larger in some
places, and containing about seventy or eighty huts. The inhabitants sit
under the shade of these platforms during the day, and retire at night
to the huts above.