The houses of these aborigines are generally large and circular in form, averaging about sixty or seventy feet in diameter. They are covered with a well-woven thatch roof, capable of lasting for years, made from the leaves of the _yarina_ or vegetable-ivory tree; this roof often reaches almost to the ground. The framework, generally of _chonta_, or some other hard, durable wood, is held together by means of stout _bejucos_ and ropes made from the tough inner bark of a tree known as the _sacha-huasca_. As there are no windows and only a small opening that serves as a door, no light nor air can enter, and the smoke and heat are generally suffocating. As a rule, several families live in one house, each, however, having its own particular fireplace, furniture, and domestic utensils, generally limited to a few small bamboo stools and benches, several earthen pots, some baskets, various kinds of paint, a quantity of gourds used as plates, &c., a few primitive musical instruments, such as rude drums, bamboo flutes, and bone whistles, torches made of the heart of the _maguey_ or of _chonta_, impregnated with resin, and several similar articles. Overhead a few light poles are stretched, from which they hang the articles just mentioned, their arms, &c., while a basket of dried fish or meat to be smoked may often be seen hanging in the smoke just above the fire. Here, too, there generally simmers a small pot of the celebrated _casaramanú_, a peculiar sort of gravy, composed of the blood, brains, and liver of the animals they kill, well seasoned with the fiery _aji_. This sauce or gravy seldom gives out, for as it diminishes day by day new portions of the ingredients are added. Serrano's Indians generally slept in light _chambira_-palm fibre hammocks, similar to those of the Cionis; but the unfortunates employed by the Peruvian Amazon Company are worked so hard by their taskmasters that the greater part of them are obliged to sleep on the ground, on account of not having time to make their hammocks. These hammocks, as well as most of the other interesting objects manufactured by the Huitotos, are now becoming extremely rare for the same reason. The principal hunting weapon used by these Indians is the blow-gun or _bodoqueda_, known to them as the _obidique_. This is in all respects similar to that used by the Incas, which has already been described. The Huitotos, however, unlike the Cochas, Incas, and Cionis, manufacture this interesting weapon themselves, which is a long and laborious process. It is done as follows:--