42 



The Aticicnt Haivaiiau House. 



uninhabited. There are some sixty-three islets covered with coconut and pandanus 

 trees, and the atoll is now under British prote<5lorate as are the two others. Nukunono 

 was discovered by Captain Edwards in the Pandora in 1791, and Fakaafo by Captain 

 Hudson of the U. S. Exploring Expedition in 1840. 



The houses on these islands at the time of the visit of the Exploring Expedition 

 as we see them in the drawings of Mr. T. C. Agate, one of the artists of the expedition, 

 are not onl}- typical of the stick and thatch method of building, but very beautiful ex- 



FIG. 36. SCENE ON ATAFU. DRAWN BY T. C. AGATE. 



amples of that architedlure now almost extinct in this region (Fig. 36). Captain 

 Hudson visited a village on the shore of the lagoon and describes it as containing — 



about thirty houses which were raised about a foot above the surrouuding earth; 



they were of oblong shape, about fifteen feet high to the ridge-pole, sloping gradually and of a 

 convex form to within two or three feet of the ground ; the roof [ridge-pole] was supported on high 

 posts, whilst the lower part rested on short ones, three feet within the eaves having a strong piece 

 extending around, on which the rafters were tied ; the gable-ends were overtopped by the roof, and 

 seemed necessary to protect them from the weather. Below the eaves the whole was open from the 

 ground to the roof. The thatching, made of pandanus-leaves, was of great thickness, and put on 

 loosely. The interior of the houses was very clean, but there was no furniture except a few gourds, 

 and a reclining stool, cut from a solid block of wood, having two legs at one end, which inclined it 

 at an angle of nearly forty-five degrees ; to show the manner of lying in it, they imitated a careless 



[226] 



