Whilst staying at Maracaibo, in Venezuela, a traveller took great interest in a singular tribe of Indians called Guajiros, who lived near the town in “pile dwellings.” He was conveyed to his destination in a rude canoe, formed simply of the hollowed-out trunk of a tree. On reaching the village, the huts, with their low sloping roofs, were seen to be perched on high piles over the shallow waters, and to be connected with each other by narrow plank bridges formed of the split stems of palm trees. To enter the huts, the visitor had to climb an upright pole by means of notches cut in the side. “Each house or cock-loft consisted of two parts, the pent-roof shelter being partitioned off in the middle; the front apartment served the double purpose of entrance hall and kitchen; the rear apartment as a reception and dwelling chamber, and it was not a little surprising to observe how clean it was kept. The floor was formed of split stems of trees, set close together, and covered with mats. Weapons and utensils were placed in order in the corners.… The positions chosen for their erection are near the mouths of rivers and in shallow waters; the piles on which they rest are driven deep into the oozy bottom, and so firmly do they hold that there is no shakiness of the loftily-perched dwelling perceptible, even when crowded with people.… They are the invention, not exactly of savages, but of tribes of men in a very primitive stage of culture: such probably were the people who lived in the prehistoric lake dwellings of Switzerland.”[28] Similar habitations are to be found “Where Orinoco in his pride Rolls to the main no tribute tide;”