94 



The Ancient Hawaiiau House. 



sometimes have been made of the ruins of other houses, this was often negleded, and 



any odd sticks were doubtless used at times, but I have never noticed in the good 



houses I have examined any deviation from this rule. The union of the pair of rafters 



above the ridge-pole was an interesting j 



one, and calculated to greatly strengthen 



the roof, for above the projecting rafters, 



which were halved to come into line, and 



parallel to the kaulinliu (Fig. 8i, a) was the ■ 



kaiipakii (b) or supplementary ridge-pole. "'^.81. junction oi* rafters. 



Not only were the four sticks lashed firmly together at the point of intersedlion, but 



between the rafters the two ridge-poles were also tied tightly together (Fig. 81). 



Cross bracing was unknown to the old 



Hawaiian as to other Polynesians, and such 



braces were not needed and perhaps better 



away, for a certain degree of elasticity was 



desirable in a grass house that would be 



fatal in a boarded house. Only in the Ku- 



saien gable (Fig. 42) is the property of the 



stiff triangle used to support the ridge-pole, 



and then it may have been more in the vcay 



of ornament tlian as a mechanical device. 

 While the rafters are being cut the 



workmen are tying together the pou all 



around the house, leaving onlj- the space 



for the door, with a/io, small horizontal 



poles about the size of a stout walking-stick, 



and at intervals of five to .seven inches. 



(See Plate XXVII.) When the rafters are 



again in place they are first tied together 



with the flat sides of the neck in contact 



and then made fast to the ridge-poles and 



finally to the pou and lohelau. The low-er 



lashing is well shown in Fig. 82. The at- 

 tachment of alio is then continued all over 



the roof, and in very large hou.ses cross ^ig. 82. junction of rafter and post. 



beams are also added, but this is seldom needed, the alio are so stiff a bracing. Where 



the depth of the house requires it, vertical aho are placed between the gable-end posts 



to support and stiffen the horizontal aho. How a house looks in this stage is shown 



[278J 



