194 cook's first voyage 1769. 



groves of bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, without under- 

 wood, which are intersected, in all directions, by the 

 paths that lead from one house to the other. Nothing 

 can be more grateful than this shade in so warm a 

 climate, nor any thing more beautiful than these 

 walks. As there is no underwood, the shade cools 

 without impeding the air ; and the houses, having 

 no walls, receive the gale from whatever point it 

 blows. I shall now give a particular description of a 

 house of a middling size, from which, as the structure 

 is universally the same, a perfect idea may be formed 

 both of those that are bigger and those that are less. 



The ground which it covers is an oblong square, 

 four-and-twenty feet long, and eleven wide ; over 

 this a roof is raised, upon three rows of pillars or 

 posts, parallel to each other, one on each side, and 

 the other in the middle. This roof consists of two 

 flat sides inclining to each other, and terminating in 

 a ridge, exactly like the roofs of our thatched houses 

 in England. The utmost height within is about nine 

 feet, and the eaves on each side reach to within 

 about three feet and a half of the ground : below 

 this, and through the whole height, at each end, it 

 is open, no part of it being inclosed with a wall. The 

 roof is thatched with palm-leaves, and the floor is 

 covered, some inches deep, with soft hay ; over this 

 are laid mats, so that the whole is one cushion, upon 

 which they sit in the day, and sleep in the night. 

 In some houses, however, there is one stool, which is 

 wholly appropriated to the master of the family ; 

 besides this, they have no furniture, except a few 

 little blocks of wood, the upper side of which is 

 hollowed into a curve, and which serves them for 

 pillows. 



The house is indeed principally used as a dor- 

 mitory; for, except it rains, they eat in the open 

 air, under the shade of the next tree. The clothes 

 that they wear in the day serve them for covering 

 in the night : the floor is the common bed of the 



