Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the
ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven
twigs, mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was
surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated
the identity of the owner.
Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served
to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were
through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward
by rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The
houses varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that
I entered was divided into two floors and eight apartments.
All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully
cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits,
and vegetables as they required. Women and children were working
in these gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja
they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest
attention. Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated
area were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the
points of their spears to the ground directly before them.
Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village--the
house with eight rooms--and taking me up into it gave me food and
drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in
her arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was
thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting
me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me
would one day rule the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of
the community.
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