12 



The Ancient Haivaiiati House. 



which is attached to the eaves of the open sides of the house : these blinds are made of long mats, 

 about six inches in width, one above another, and rather overlapping, and are so contrived as to draw up 

 by means of strings, like our Venetian blinds, and are then concealed just within the eaves. The com- 

 mon houses have not these blinds, but, in place of them a few mats hung up as occasion maj- require. 



Half a centitry passed and we have another record of the Tongan hotise from a 

 resident of some years, and this seems to fill the few lines nndrawn in the former pic- 

 tures. Even with the example set by King George Tiibou, who delighted to build his 

 numerous residences of foreign material in foreign manner, the general character of 



FIG. 9. KAVA DRINKING IN TONGA ( PI,. 20 OF COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE). 



the Tongan house remained the same as when Cook and Mariner described it. I quote 

 from the interesting account of the Reverend Thomas West:"' 



Nukualofa (the Capital) is intersected by tolerably wide paths, kept scrupulous!}- free from 

 all rank vegetation and dirt. These paths are bounded by the neat reed fences which enclose the 

 abis or residential sections of the various chiefs and their retainers. These enclosures are planted 

 largely with useful trees, such as the bread-fruit, banana, cocoa-nut, orange, citron, shaddock, and 

 a variety of shrubs whose overhanging foliage effectually screens the pathways from the intense heat 

 of the sun. Very little order is observed in placing the numerous houses within these enclosures. 

 There are no regular avenues or streets. In fact a house is generally placed where it can obtain the 

 greatest amount of shade from overhanging trees,— a matter certainly of considerable importance in 

 a tropical climate. A casual visitor, therefore, can see but few dwellings even when he has entered 

 within the toto a, or fence of the abi; and, until he hunts them out amongst the abounding shrubbery, 

 he wonders where the people live. 



'"Ten years in South-Central Polynesia ; Being reminiscences of a personal mission to the Friendly Islands and 

 their Dependencies. London, i86s, p. 44. 



[196J 



