Tongan Houses. 



II 



Next comes the account of William Mariner, a man whose name is honored as 



that of an accurate observer by all who study the Eastern Pacific. His compulsory 



residence of several years on the group has given us perhaps the best account of the 



daily life of that early time that we have.'' Of Tongan 



housebuilding his words are few but to the point 



and may be quoted in full : 



Las;a falc, house-building. Every man knows how to 

 build a house, but those whose business it is have chiefly to 

 erect large houses on niarl)'s, consecrated houses, and dwel- 

 lings for chiefs. The general form of their houses is oblong, 

 rather approaching to an oval, the two ends being closed, and 

 the front and back open ; the sloping thatched roof descend- 

 ing to within about four feet of the ground, which is general!}- 

 VIC. 7. TONCIAN PILLOW. Supported by four posts ; the larger houses by six, or some- 



KIG. 8. WOODKN STOOLS. 



times more. The chief art in building a house consists in fastening the beams, &c., strongly, with plait 

 of different colours, made of the husk of the cocoa-nut, in such a way as to look very ornamental ; the 

 colours, which are black, red and yellow, being tastefully disposed. The thatch of the superior houses 

 is made of the dried leaves of the sugar cane, and which will last seven or eight years without requiring 

 repair. The thatch of the common houses is made of matting formed of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, 

 and which lasts about two or three years ; but being much easier to make than the other, it ismore 

 frequently vised. The flooring is thus made : the ground, being raised about a foot, is beaten down 

 hard, and covered with the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, dried grass, or leaves of the ifi tree {Inocarpus 

 cdiilis): over this is laid a bleached matting, made of the young leaves of the cocoanut tree. The house 

 consists, as it were, but of one apartment, but which is subdivided occasionall)' by screens about six 

 or eight feet high. In case of rain, or at night, if the weather is cool, they let down a sort of blind. 



'.\n .\ccount of the Natives of the Tonga Islands. Compiled and arranged from the extensive communications 

 of Mr. William Mariner by John Martin, M.D. London, 1817. 11, p. 279. 



[195] 



