Marquesan Houses. 5 



cases massive stone-work, from one to four feet iu height, which extends two or three feet beyond the 

 area of the house. The rafters descend in front to a plate or timber extending the whole length of 

 the house, supported by a row of thick round pillars, from three to five feet in height, over which 

 the eaves project sufficiently to screen the entrance from the weather. 



At the peak the rafters rest on a similar stick of timber, supported by two or more posts, from 

 eight to fourteen feet in height. The space between them is filled with poles of bamboo, or of the 

 light WJD.I of the hibiscus, laid pirallel, two or three inches apart over which lighter sticks are placed 

 horizontally, at regular intervals : the whole being neatly lashed together at the points of intersection. 



FIG. 2. MARQUESAN VII.LAGP: (FROM X'OVAGK OF THE VENUS, Vh. 20 ) . 



The back and ends are filled up in the same manner, and thus prepared for the external covering. 

 This is of thatch composed either of the leaf of the breadfruit tree, the cocoanut, or palmetto, Chamcs- 

 rops hicmilis \_Pritchardia pacifica^ — all of which are prepared for this purpose in different methods. 

 The cocoanut leaf is from twelve to sixteen feet long and deepl\' feathered on either side of the rib 

 running through the middle of it. This rib or stem is split from end to end, and the leaflets on each 

 braided closely together, forming a matting of that length, and one and a half or two feet in breadth. 

 Thus prepared, they are placed on the rafters double, the higher ranges lapping over the lower in 

 the manner of slates or shingles. 



The leaf of the breadfruit is two feet in length, one and more in width, and deeply indented. 

 It is prepared for thatching by stringing the leaves as closely as possible upon a rod of light wood, ten 

 or twelve feet long and half an inch in diameter, through a slit made in the stem of each leaf ; it is 

 then attached to the roof and sides in the same manner as the cocoanut, and forms a more durable 

 and better thatch. 



But the palmetto affords the most valued covering, and that most used — especially for the 

 roof — wherever found in sufficient abundance. Its fan-like leaves are fastened one by one, with their 



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