An old woman sitting in the doorway was spinning thread; a second, somewhat younger woman with a baby in a blanket on her back, sitting on the ground, was weaving cloth; a third woman sat, with a great cushion of moss in a bag of matting on the ground before her, over which was spread a deer-skin on which was laid raw cotton, which she briskly beat with beaters made of five or six divergent sticks fastened together at one end.

Such beating sticks are called _mapaho_; one is held in each hand, and the beating is briskly done, alternately with one and the other; the beating is intended to spread the raw cotton into a thin and even sheet before it is spun into thread.

Returning to the town-house, we began our work, but were soon interrupted.

The town is situated on a slope over which the houses are scattered.

From the porch of the municipal house where we sat, we could see several huts upon the slope above.