446 cook's voyage to july, 



Sugar-cane is commonly in small spots, crowded 

 closely together; and the mulberry, of which the 

 cloth is made, though without order, has sufficient 

 room allowed for it, and is kept very clean. The 

 only other plant, that they cultivate for their manu- 

 factures, is the pandanus ; which is generally planted 

 in a row close together at the sides of the other fields; 

 and they consider it as a thing so distinct in this 

 state, that they have a different name for it ; which 

 shows that they are very sensible of the great 

 changes brought about by cultivation. 



It is remarkable that these people, who in many 

 things show much taste and ingenuity, should show 

 little of either in building their houses; though the 

 defect is rather in the design, than in the execution. 

 Those of the lower people are poor huts, scarcely 

 sufficient to defend them from the weather, and very 

 small. Those of the better sort are larger and more 

 comfortable ; but not what one might expect. The 

 dimensions of one of a middling size are about thirty 

 feet long, twenty broad, and twelve high. Their 

 house is, properly speaking a thatched roof or shed, 

 supported by posts and rafters disposed in a very ju- 

 dicious manner. The floor is raised with earth 

 smoothed, and covered with strong thick matting, 

 and kept very clean. The most of them are closed 

 on the weather side (and some more than two-thirds 

 round), with strong mats or with branches of the 

 cocoa-nut tree, platted or woven into each other. 

 These they fix up edgewise, reaching from the eaves 

 to the ground ; and thus they answer the purpose of 

 a wall. A thick strong mat about two and one half 

 or three feet broad, bent into the form of a semi-cir- 

 cle, and set upon its edge, with the ends touching 

 the side of the house, in shape resembling the fender 

 of a fire-hearth, encloses a space for the master and 

 mistress of the family to sleep in. The lady, indeed, 

 spends most of her time during the day within it. 

 The rest of the family sleep upon the floor, wherever 



