most cases it would be hard indeed for a stranger to pick servant from
master. Sometimes the people of a neighboring village ransom one of
their fellows and in such a case the freed slave may return to his old
home or he may become a free member of the community in which he has
been serving.

DWELLINGS

The insecurity of life resulting from the conditions described has
caused the people to build their homes high in the branches of trees,
often so situated on the edge of cliffs that they can be approached only
from one direction (Plates LXXIII-LXXIV).

Two sorts of dwellings are commonly seen. Of these, the rudest rest on
the limbs of trees, and conform in size and shape to the nature of the
supporting branches. Some few houses of this kind have horizontal sides
and sloping roofs, but more frequently a roof which slopes directly from
a central ridge pole to the edges of the platform does away with the
necessity of side walls.

The second and more common type of house is shown in Plate LXXIV. Here
the top of the tree has been cut off some fifteen or twenty feet above
the ground leaving a stump to serve as a part of the foundation. Many
smaller poles help support the floor and then extend upward to form the
wall and roof stays. The upper flooring of beaten bark rests on
cross-beams which have been lashed to the uprights. Above it are
occasional horizontal poles, forming a skeleton to which the walls of
_nipa_ palm are fastened. In some houses two or three of the foundation
poles extend above the floor to such a height that they are used as the
supports for the ridge pole. In others true king posts rest on the