Dr. Woods described the scene looking down from the elevated position of a cottage where he stayed on March 27, 1884. "The city does not impress one looking down upon the low houses, mostly of one story, and thatched with straw, scarcely more so than a South Sea island village of huts. The poorer huts predominate, and the better buildings, with their gray tiled roofs, cannot be seperated from the general dull color of the dried rice straw, which covers the greater number."