The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3Poe, Edgar Allan
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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American
The dwellings were of the most miserable description imaginable,
and, unlike those of even the lowest of the savage races with
which mankind are acquainted, were of no uniform plan. Some of
them (and these we found belonged to the Wampoos or Yampoos, the
great men of the land) consisted of a tree cut down at about four
feet from the root, with a large black skin thrown over it, and
hanging in loose folds upon the ground. Under this the savage
nestled. Others were formed by means of rough limbs of trees,
with the withered foliage upon them, made to recline, at an angle
of forty-five degrees, against a bank of clay, heaped up, without
regular form, to the height of five or six feet. Others, again,
were mere holes dug in the earth perpendicularly, and covered
over with similar branches, these being removed when the tenant
was about to enter, and pulled on again when he had entered. A
few were built among the forked limbs of trees as they stood, the
upper limbs being partially cut through, so as to bend over upon
the lower, thus forming thicker shelter from the weather. The
greater number, however, consisted of small shallow caverns,
apparently scratched in the face of a precipitous ledge of dark
stone, resembling fuller’s earth, with which three sides of the
village were bounded. At the door of each of these primitive
caverns was a small rock, which the tenant carefully placed
before the entrance upon leaving his residence, for what purpose
I could not ascertain, as the stone itself was never of
sufficient size to close up more than a third of the opening.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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