dwelling-houses in queensland are generally built of wood, and public buildings of brick or stone; but whether the structure is of bark or granite, whether it is an aboriginal mia-mia, or the familiar tent, or a city palace, we always find that those who build prefer to build on the ground. in new guinea, however, the natives climb trees and build dwelling-places there, just as the birds build their nests. sir francis winter, who was at one time chief judicial officer of british new guinea, gives the following interesting account:-"tree-houses have been so frequently mentioned in connection with new guinea, that a few remarks on these small buildings may be of interest. the accounts given of them by people, even by those who do know something, are apparently at times much overtinted by fancy1. i read in one work that the tree-houses were the sleeping quarters of young ladies of the village who were always packed off to their aerial2, and somewhat limited, apartments shortly after sundown.
"three-house are used as a means of denfence.they have a solid floor and sides, made of poles, and there is ,as a rule, a1 overtinted by fancy: too highly coloured; overdrawn by imagination. 2 aerial: airy; built in mid-air.
small platform in front, from which missiles1 can be cast down on the enemy.
new guinea tree-houses
"i have listened to some remarkable accounts of the heights that tree-houses are built above the ground. i have heard it asserted that tree-houses one hundred and fifty feet from the ground have been seen. i can only say that i went and had a look at one of these one hundred and fifty feet houses, and that in my humble opinion the height was only a little over fifty feet. i estimated the highest one that i ever saw to be sixty feet from the ground, and it was in an unusually high tree.
"as a rule, the trees alongside new guinea villages grow no1 missile: a weapon thrown as an arrow or a stone.
higher than iron-bark trees do in the bush near brisbane, and the houses are rarely much more than half-way up the tree. sometimes the tree is polled1 to a certain extent, before the house is built in it. a tree-house, even if it is only thirty feet from the ground, is a good protection from spears.
"the house is reached by a ladder made of vines,which can be easily cut away at the summit if need be. there appears to exist a law of etiquette2 with respect to the mode of attack-ing tree- houses. i never heard of any attempt being made to cut down the tree in which the house was built.
"some years ago a party from an inland tribe attacked a village at the back of the astrolabe range, killed some of the people, and forced the rest to take refuge in their tree-houses. the besieged soon ran short of missiles, probably (native fashion) having been careless about providing a proper supply.
"the besiegers became aware of this, and sat for some time under the tree-houses, and amused themselves by jeering at and taunting their occupants. although they had iron hatchets and the trees were not very big, they made no attempt to cut them down, and finally departed, leaving the people in the tree-houses unharmed.
"one of our officers, who visited the scene shortly afterwards, remarked to the natives of the village that had been attacked, that he wondered the enemy had not cut down the trees. they were evidently surprised at this remark, and replied that such an act would have been quite contrary to native customs."1is polled: has the top cut off.
2law of etiquette: a recognised custom.