Fakaafo Houses. 



43 



and comfortable lounge which they evidently considered a luxury. It was conjectured that they 

 had removed their various household uteusils to a secret place. 



The most remarkable constructious of the islanders near the village, were three small quays, 

 five or six feet wide and two feet above the water, forming slips about ten feet wide lat the end of 

 each of these was a small house, built of pandanus leaves, partly on poles in the water [See Fig. 36]. 

 ****** They have no water on the island, and the supply is wholl}' obtained from excava- 

 tions made in the body of the cocoanut trees, two feet from the ground. These trees are all dugout 

 on the lea side, towards which all are more or less inclined. These excavations are capable of con- 

 taining five or six gallons of water.-'' 



FIG. 37. COCONUT GROVE AND HOUSE ON FAKAAFO. AGATE. 



The boats of the expedition were not able to land on Nukunono and sailed south- 

 ward, discovering Fakaafo. On this new island they found the dwellings much like those 

 they had seen on Atafu, but better built. Quoting again from the Narrative (v, p. 14): 



The most remarkable building was that which they said was their tui tokclau (house of their 

 god). This stood in the centre, and was of an oblong shape, fifty by thirty-five feet, and about 

 twenty feet in height. The roof was supported in the centre by three posts, two feet in diameter, 

 while under the place on which the rafters rested, were many short and small posts : all were very 

 roughly hewn, and placed only a few feet asunder. The roof was concave and extended beyond the 

 posts at the eaves ; the thatching was tied together, which, hanging down, resembled at a distance 

 the curtain of a tent or marquee. All the sides were open, excepting a small railing, about fifteen 

 inches high, around the foundation, which allowed the free passage of the air through. * * * * 



''U. S. Ex. Exped., v. 7. It is not probable that they had more furniture in their ordinary- houses. 



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