Sauioan Touplcs. 



19 



(• _; 



One very interesting exception to the usual style of building these temples is found in the case 

 of a remarkable old ruin of the Falc-o-/c-Fc'c (House of the Fe'e), the famous war-god of A'ana and 

 Faleata, the site of which became known to me a short time before leaving Samoa in 1845. This 

 appears to have been built in the usual Samoan style, but its ruins disclose the fact that its builders 

 had used stone slabs for the supporting-posts of the roof, and that it got the name of 0-lc-faIc-ma'a- 



,->. o-le-fe'c (the stone house of the 



■ ,. Fe'e), and hence became en- 



shrouded with much mystery and 

 wonder. I think this is the only 

 instance of such a departure from 

 the usual style of Samoan building 

 known in the islands. 



It is itiifortunate that we 

 have no definite information 

 of tlie bttildings or their 

 niin.s in the Ivlantia portion 

 of Samoa which is stipposed 

 to be the cradle of the pres- 

 ent Samoan population ; the 

 island Tan is still noted for 

 its canoe builders. 



Fijian Houses. — So far 

 we have had Polynesian house- 

 building, and it may seem 

 strange to break the order by 

 omitting the most elaborate 

 form, that of the Maori, for 

 the present, and taking up the 

 work of an entirelj- different 

 people as the Pacific islanders 

 are generally classified, but viy reason is not only founded on the geographical relation 

 of the Vitian grotip to those whose housebuilding has already been described, but on 

 the close relationship of form and manner of building, which as we shall see later on, 

 nearly resembles that of the Hawaiians. 



It is perhaps unnecessary to go farther back than the time of the United States 

 Exploring Expedition (1840), for foreign infltience had made little, if any, change in 

 the manner of building dwellings, although the advance of missionary work was soon 

 to destroy the Fijian temples. The account of the houses as given by Captain Wilkes 



[203] 



FIG. 15. SAMOAX TKJIPLES (FROM STAIR). 



