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TI: It sounds like the type of business, too, there were times when you needed help, you know, so being in a village with other fishermen probably made sense rather than being on your own. How about your father's brother, did he come along to this camp also?

TM: Yes, my father's brother also moved into the camp. In fact, his home was in the water. It's strange but (there were) three, we had three homes suspended in the water, in the ocean with enough support. So when we were young we could go crabbing from the house, directly into the ocean.

TI: So they were... so part of the house was on land and the other part was on like stilts in the water?

TM: Right, so you know it's a land when you get into the village. You had to go down the hill and as you went down the hill, you had the three homes on level area and the homes were suspended in the ocean. It's hard to imagine but that was it. Our home was further up the hill and so it would overlook all the other homes.

TI: Now were there advantages of having a home that was extended over the water? Why would you do that? Was it just because there was not enough land for more houses? Or I'm trying to understand why.

TM: I have no idea why but it was convenient to be suspended in the ocean. You didn't have to worry about the area soil where you have to take care of weeding and whatnot. It was completely suspended and the water was coming up that you didn't have any flooding problem and you had a huge stone wall which gave a barrier and they were quite comfortable.

TI: Now in the area, were there other homes that were similar like to that? Where they were extended over the water?

TM: No, the other homes were all above the... three homes so that they were all suspended actually on land --

TI: But how about the other fishing camps, you know, if you went --

TM: I have no idea about the other fishing camps, (but) there was another fishing camp that I was familiar with, and the set up was about the same.

TI: Now I know you have a drawing of this. Have you ever seen any photographs of this?

TM: No, that was a situation where cameras were difficult to get hold of and Kodak, I guess, was about the most common one. To get hold of a camera, I would say that when I was about fifteen, that's when perhaps a camera, you know, was being used for photographing.

TI: Yeah, it would've just been great to have taken a boat out there and just take a picture of the village from the ocean. You know, similar to your drawing would have been really, really nice.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.