210 NATIVE HOUSES. [1839. 



Rafters, fastened in the same manner, reach from this pole 

 down to the outer circle of posts, about four feet in height, 

 upon which are extended long sticks or plates. The rafters 

 are connected with centre posts, nearly half way down, by a 

 network of cross beams and braces. The roof is thatched, 

 beginning at the top and working downwards, and projects 

 from twelve to eighteen inches, like eaves. Bamboo, hibis- 

 cus rods, and the small branches of other trees, wattled to- 

 gether, form the siding. 



Great ingenuity is displayed in building their houses, 

 though in their shape they have probably imitated those of 

 the Friendly Islanders. The wood of the bread-fruit is prin- 

 cipally used for all the main timbers and posts. The rafters 

 are made of hibiscus. All the fastenings are of sennit. 

 Their f ale-teles, or council houses, are of the same general 

 fashion, though larger and more firmly built. 



The floors of the houses are covered with coarse mats, 

 and in the better class, finer ones are spread over these, on 

 all occasions of ceremony. A few rough-hewn stools and 

 benches are the seats commonly seen ; but in the houses of the 

 wealthier chiefs, a raised dais extends round the inside of 

 the outer wall. They sleep on the coarse mats used for car- 

 peting, with a piece of bamboo, or tamanu wood, supported 

 on sticks, for a pillow; and sometimes a piece of colored tapa 

 is hung above their place of repose, to protect them against 

 the musquitoes. Baskets, mats, and cocoa-nut shells for eat- 

 ing and drinking, of which they usually have an abundance, 

 are scattered about in every part of the dwelling, and con- 

 spicuous among the articles of furniture, is the vessel in 

 which urn is prepared — the wassail bowl of the Samoiin. 

 Now and then an old musket may be observed; and in the 

 houses of the "devil's men" there is always a formidable 

 array of clubs and spears, made of the iron wood (casuarina,) 

 and of bows and arrows. At night, a lamp, consisting of a 

 cocoa shell, filled with the oil of the nut, and having a piece ol 

 vine stalk for a wick, is kept burning till daylight, near one of 

 the main centre posts, where the hearth for the lire is situated. 



