--- a/oct-py-types.cc	Tue Aug 16 00:31:22 2016 -0700
+++ b/oct-py-types.cc	Tue Aug 16 12:57:07 2016 -0700
@@ -219,25 +219,24 @@
 }
 
 PyObject *
-make_py_list (const Cell& cell)
+make_py_tuple (const Cell& cell)
 {
   if (! (cell.is_empty () || cell.is_vector ()))
     throw value_convert_exception (
-      "unable to convert multidimensional cell array into Python sequence");
+      "unable to convert multidimensional cell array into Python tuple");
 
-  PyObject *list = PyList_New (0);
-  if (! list)
+  octave_idx_type size = cell.numel ();
+  PyObject *tuple = PyTuple_New (size);
+  if (! tuple)
     octave_throw_bad_alloc ();
 
-  for (octave_idx_type i = 0; i < cell.numel (); i++)
+  for (octave_idx_type i = 0; i < size; ++i)
     {
       PyObject *item = wrap_octvalue_to_pyobj (cell.xelem (i));
-
-      if (PyList_Append (list, item) < 0)
-        throw boost::python::error_already_set ();
+      PyTuple_SET_ITEM (tuple, i, item);
     }
 
-  return list;
+  return tuple;
 }
 
 std::string

--- a/oct-py-types.h	Tue Aug 16 00:31:22 2016 -0700
+++ b/oct-py-types.h	Tue Aug 16 12:57:07 2016 -0700
@@ -121,15 +121,15 @@
 PyObject *
 make_py_int (uint64_t value);
 
-//! Create a Python list object from the given Octave cell array value.
+//! Create a Python tuple object from the given Octave cell array value.
 //!
 //! The values contained in the cell array are recursively converted to
 //! appropriate Python values.
 //!
 //! @param cell Octave cell array
-//! @return Python list object
+//! @return Python tuple object
 PyObject *
-make_py_list (const Cell& cell);
+make_py_tuple (const Cell& cell);
 
 //! Create a Python numeric object from the given Octave numeric or boolean
 //! scalar value.

--- a/octave_to_python.cc	Tue Aug 16 00:31:22 2016 -0700
+++ b/octave_to_python.cc	Tue Aug 16 12:57:07 2016 -0700
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@
       }
     else if (octvalue.is_cell ())
       {
-        PyObject *obj = make_py_list (octvalue.cell_value ());
+        PyObject *obj = make_py_tuple (octvalue.cell_value ());
         py_object = object (handle<PyObject> (obj));
       }
     else if (octvalue.is_numeric_type () || octvalue.is_string ()