304 dress. [1840. 



or sennit. The rafters are laid upon the horizontal beams, 

 and ascend upwards by a slight slope to the ridge pole, which 

 is laid upon two or three posts set on a line running through 

 the centre of the building. The roof descends on all sides, 

 and is composed of rush thatching. Smaller poles fastened 

 to the upright posts, with interstices of a foot in width, form 

 the sides of the building. Twigs are sometimes wattled with 

 the poles to fill up the chinks, or mats are hung up as screens. 

 The doorways are under the eaves at the gable ends, over 

 which mats are hung, though good and substantial doors of 

 deal may now be occasionally seen. A few mats, a number 

 of bark dishes and baskets, two or three fishing nets, an old 

 sea chest in which the household goods are deposited for safe 

 keeping, an iron pot that does all the cooking, and an old- 

 fashioned rusty musket, or double-barreled gun, are about the 

 usual assortment of furniture. Outside the house, there may 

 be a few fruit trees growing, and sometimes a small garden 

 spot can be discovered, though it is more common to see noth- 

 ing but the former. 



Mats, called kakahus, made of flax and braided by hand, 

 are worn by both sexes. Those of the men are often very 

 fine, and are sometimes interwoven of various colors, or beau- 

 tifully embroidered. The women of the lower classes wear 

 coarse corn leaf mats, particularly when at work. The 

 kakahu is worn tied round the waist, or thrown over the 

 shoulders. Short cloaks, or palutus, about three feet long, 

 made of mat, coarse cloth, or dogskin dressed with the hair 

 on, are worn by the chiefs. Loose slips of calico drawn about 

 the neck, resembling the ancient tiputa of the Tahitian female, 

 are frequently displayed by the women. Latterly European 

 fashions have been introduced. Sailors' jackets and trowsers 

 — and often the former without the hitter — may sometimes 

 be seen adorning the person of a swarthy New Zealandn-. 

 Blankets, too, have been introduoed, and they are now worn 

 in the same manner as the kakahu. 



Pork, fish, and potatoes, are the chief articles of food among 

 the natives ; and when other vegetables fail them, they 



