1841.] HOUSES. 411 



protract their sports to a late hour by the light of the moon 

 or of a large fire. They have feasts, either public or private, 

 quite often, but the only periodical one is at the full of the 

 moon. 



The dwelling houses of the natives are peculiarly constructed. 

 They are of an oblong shape, and ordinarily about sixteen 

 feet wide and twenty feet long. The frame work consists of 

 cocoa-nut posts, and beams, supporting high sloping roofs, 

 which descend from the ridge pole to within three feet of the 

 ground, and are thatched with pandanus leaves. At the 

 gable ends the roof is perpendicular for about one third of the 

 descent, and then slopes off as at the sides. The ridge pole 

 is from fifteen to twenty feet above the ground, and the 

 rafters and cross-pieces are small poles only an inch or two in 

 diameter. This main building — for there are two stories — 

 rests on large beams of cocoa-nut wood, which are supported 

 by four round posts of the same material, one at each corner, 

 and made perfectly smooth so as to prevent the rats from 

 climbing up. These posts are but three feet high, and within 

 them is the basement of the house, which is used exclusively 

 for sleeping. 'l B e upper apartment, where all the valuable 

 goods and chattels are kept, is floored with pandanus boards 

 resting on cross-beams. The sides of the houses are inclosed 

 with mats or thatching, and they are entered by a square 

 hole that serves the purpose of a door. 



Besides the private dwellings of the inhabitants, each town, 

 has a mariapa, or council-house, which is built like the 

 former, but of much larger dimensions, and frequently sup- 

 ported on blocks of coral. There are atamas, too, where 

 the chiefs receive company and the natives meet to exchange 

 their commodities : these are constructed after the same 

 general fashion, but have no upper apartment. In some parts 

 of the group the towns are surrounded by pickets and pali- 

 sades of cocoa-nut wood ; and within the principal inclosure, 

 there are smaller ones containing ten or twelve houses be- 

 longing to the same family, as in the pas of New Zealand. 



Baskets, made of twigs or leaves woven firmly together, 



