17*8. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 5215 



drawn over the glans, and tied with a string, as prac- 

 tised by some of the natives of New Zealand. 



Though they seem to have adopted the mode of 

 living in villages, there is no appearance of defence, 

 or fortification, near any of them ; and the houses 

 are scattered about, without any order, either with 

 respect to their distances from each other, or there 

 position in any particular direction. Neither is there 

 any proportion as to their size ; some being large 

 and commodious, from forty to fifty feet long, and 

 twenty or thirty broad, while others of them are mere 

 hovels. Their figure is not unlike oblong corn, or 

 hay-stacks ; or, perhaps, a better idea may be con- 

 ceived of them, if we suppose the roof of a barn 

 placed on the ground, in such a manner, as to form 

 a high, acute ridge, with two very low sides, hardly 

 discernible at a distance. The gable, at each end 

 corresponding to the sides, makes these habitations 

 perfectly close all round ; and they are well thatched 

 with long grass, wich is laid on slender poles, dis- 

 posed with some regularity. The entrance is made 

 indifferently, in the end or side, and is an oblong 

 hole, so low, that one must rather creep than walk 

 in ; and is often shut up by a board of planks, fastened 

 together, which serves as a door, but having no hinges, 

 must be removed occasionally. No light enters the 

 house, but by this opening ; and though such close 

 habitations may afford a comfortable retreat in bad 

 weather, they seem but ill-adapted to the warmth of 

 the climate. They are, however, kept remarkably 

 clean ; and their floors are covered with a large quan- 

 tity of dried grass, over which they spread mats to 

 sit and sleep upon. At one end stands a kind of 

 bench, about three feet high, on which their house- 

 hold utensils are placed. The catalogue is not Jong. 

 It consists of gourd-shells, which they convert into 

 vessels that serve as bottles to hold water, and as bas- 

 kets to contain their victuals, and other things, with 

 covers of the same \ and of a few wooden bowls and 



p 1< 



