On Placing One Of Our Natives, Of The Same Height,
Alongside The Marsh Man, We Noticed That Our Native Was About Three
Inches Higher At The Hips.
"I had a good view of our visitor, while he was standing sideways
towards me, and in figure and carriage he looked to me more ape-like
than any human being that I have seen.
The woman, who was of middle
age, was much more slightly formed than the man, but her legs were
short and slender in proportion to her figure, which from the waist
to the knees was clothed in a wrapper of native cloth.
"The houses of the near village were built on piles, at a height of
about twelve feet from the surface of the water, but one house at the
far village must have been three or four feet more elevated. Their
canoes, which are small, long, and narrow, and have no outrigger, axe
hollowed out to a mere shell to give them buoyancy. Although the open
water was several feet deep, it was so full of aquatic plants that
a craft of any width, or drawing more than a few inches, would make
but slow progress through it. Needless to say that these craft, which
retain the round form of the log, are exceedingly unstable, but their
owners stand up in them and, pole them along without any difficulty.
"These people are very expert swimmers, and can glide through beds
of reeds or rushes, or over masses of floating vegetable matter,
with ease.
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