Sa»ifla)i Houses. 13 



A Tonguese house suits the few necessities and easy habits of the people, but has none of the 

 comforts so essential to a higher type of civilization. With the exception of what may be called 

 public buildings, and a few of the dwellings of the chiefs of highest rank, their dimensions are small, 

 and they contain but two apartments. They are, however, constructed with an eye to neatness and 

 great strength ; and when elaboratel\- finished in the best native style, their interior appearance is 

 by no means to be despised. The walls range from four to eight feet in height, and are formed 

 either of a single or double fencing of reeds, which, when interlaced and bound by siunet to the 

 lokotuus, or stakes and posts, planted all round the eaves of the building, resembles very much strong 

 basket-work. These walls are sometimes made more wind and weather tight by the addition of a 

 lining of plaited cocoa-nut leaves ; but, at the best, they afford a sorry resistance to strong winds or 

 heavy rains. On the other hand, there is capital ventilation ; and perhaps that is of greater import- 

 ance in such a hot climate, than even freedom from the more occasional annoyances attendant upon 

 stormy weather. To compensate for the lowness of the walls, the roof of a Tonguese house is carried 

 to a considerable height. The rafters are closely set, and are generally made of the outer wood of 

 the cocoa-nut tree, or of the breadfruit tree, the latter of which has much the appearance of cedar 

 wood; and has a very pleasing and beautiful effect when nicely finished. The large beams to which 

 the rafters are attached, are laid along the grooved tops of high and durable posts, which reach 

 about half way up the entire height of roof. The inner ridgepole is usually ornamented by a pro- 

 fusion of sinnet wrappings of varied colors and geometrically interlaced. The roof itself is covered with 

 a thick thatch, made from the leaves of the sugar cane or of the bamboo, and is perfectly water-tight. 

 A well-built house will last a good many years ; but the thatching requires to be renewed, under the 

 most favourable circumstances, about once in five years. The floor is laid with a profusion of dried 

 leaves, which are in turn covered over with numbers of mats made from the cocoa-nut leaf, upon which 

 again the finer sitting and sleeping mats are placed. No provision is made in the interior of either 

 native or European house for cooking conveniences. A separate building contains the kitchen 

 requisites, and the heat of the climate renders a fire-place in the dwelling house unnecessary. What 

 is wanting in the architectural beauty of these houses is amply remedied b>- the Io\eliness of the 

 natural bowers, from which they peep out upon the passer-by. 



With all this detail of the outward appearance not a word of the method of erecting 

 the house. We learn, however, that there has been little or no change from the time 

 of Cook. The marked feature is the open nature of the stru(5lure, which was evidentl}' 

 used for something more than a shelter from rain and a bedroom. Turning from Tonga 

 to Samoa we find the same open strudlure and ground plan, although the Samoans 

 had by no means the close connection with the Tongans that the Fijians had: we 

 shall see later that the latter built a very different house. 



Samoan Houses. — In several visits to the Samoan Islands, both at Apia on 

 the island of Upolu and at Pagopago on the island of Tutuila I have visited native 

 houses and to some extent examined their structure; I have been seated on the low 

 fence that is a part of the house strudlure and serves to keep out pigs and other four- 

 footed unwelcome visitors, and discussed with the hospitable inmates matters relating 

 both to the house and to its furniture, but as the evidence of foreign improvements 

 was incontrovertible (kerosene lamps, crockery, boards, etc.) I prefer to turn to a trust- 



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