394 



A VOYAGE TO 



1777. ported by poils and rafters, difpofed in a very judicious 

 "' '' manner. The floor is raifcd with earth fmoothed, and co- 

 vered with ftrong, thick matting, and kept very clean. The 

 moft of them are doled on the weather fide (and fomc 

 more than two-thirds round), with ftrong mats, or with 

 branches of the cocoa-nut tree, plaited or woven into each 

 other. Thefe they fix up edgewife, reaching from the 

 eaves to the ground ; and thus they anfwer the purpofe of 

 a wall. A thick, flrong mat, about two and one half or three 

 feet broad, bent into the form of a femicircle, and fet upon 

 its e<]ge, with the ends toucliing the fide of the houfe, in 

 fliape rcfcmbling the fender of a fire hearth, inclofes a fpace 

 for the mafler and miftrefs of the family to fleep in. The 

 lady, indeed, fpends moil; of her time, during the day, within 

 it. The red of the family fleep upon the floor, v^'herever they 

 pleafe to lie down ; the unmarried xnen and women apart 

 from each other. Or, if the family be large, there are fmall 

 huts adjoining, to which the fervants retire in the nighty 

 fo that privacy is as much obferved here, as one could ex- 

 pect. They have mats made on purpofe for fleeping on j 

 and the clothes that they v.^ear in tlie day, ferve for their 

 covering in the night. Their whole furniture confifts of a 

 bowl or two, in which they make kava ; a ievj gourds; 

 cocoa-nut fliells ; fome fmall wooden ftoolsy which ferve 

 them for pillows ; and, perhaps, a large flool for the Chief, 

 or Mafler, of the family to flt upon. 



The only probable reafon I can allign for their negleft of 

 ornamental architecture, in the conftruftion of their houfes, 

 is their being fond of living much in the open air. Indeed, 

 they feem to confldcr their houfes, within which they feldom 

 eat, as of little ufe but to fleep in, and to retire to in bad 

 v/eather. And the lower fort of people, who fpend a great' 



part 



