Next day, leaving guards for the security of the ship, we rode out to the place in question. The small hut which Fulgentio de Yegros had constructed for the two priests, was at first sight pronounced uninhabitable by the Governor, under whose inspection another, somewhat larger, but in no other respect superior, was hastily built by the soldiers. Europeans will not be displeased to hear how these huts are constructed. Stakes are driven very deep into the ground, and reeds or withes fastened to them with twigs or thongs of leather. The empty spaces between each row of reeds are filled up with pieces of wood, or small bricks, on to which mud, well worked up with straw, and cow's dung, is plastered. The Spaniards call this sort of fabric a French wall, (_tapia Françesa_) and always adopt it when stones or bricks are scarce. If it is properly made, and whitewashed with lime or tobati, it will last, and can hardly be distinguished from a common wall. The grassy ground is the floor of the apartment. In this manner the cottages and chapels were generally constructed in the colonies of the savages. You shall now hear how they are roofed. The trunks of the caranday palms cut in half and hollowed out serve instead of slates or tiles. Frequently a roof is made with bundles of long dry grass tied to reeds placed underneath, in the same manner as, in other places, thatch is made of straw, which is not to be had in Paraguay; for the reapers cut down nothing but the ear of wheat, afterwards burning the stalk or stubble, the ashes of which serve instead of manure to fertilize the soil. Sometimes houses are covered with bundles of dry grass, rolled in soft mud, cemented together, and thus secure from being set on fire by the burning arrows of the savages. In the colony of the Rosary I found that roofs of this kind, though they afford some protection against fire, are not of the least use in excluding rain: for the mud with which the dry grass is plastered, gets so much softened by long rain, and affords such free access to heavy showers, that it seems to rain harder within doors than without. In short, the house built for me by the soldiers was hardly of any use: for the thongs, which they had formed of wet raw hides, soon putrefying, the reeds and mud plastered on them fell off, leaving the stakes quite bare; so that my hut presented the appearance of a bird-coop, but was afterwards laboriously repaired and rendered habitable by myself and my companion. I strengthened that side of the wall which looks towards the stormy south, with a plaster composed of mud, and the blood of oxen, which repels water like pitch. The chapel was very small, and entirely unornamented: some of my own handy-work imparted a little degree of elegance to the altar.