Thatching the House. 



95 



in Plate XXVII. It is in fact a huge inverted basket. The long ropes that bound the 

 frame tightly together are now removed and the spring of the frame tightens all the 

 lashings in a very satisfactory way. As shown in Fig. 82 the aho are not all tied to 

 the rafters, but mainly to another pole of about the same size as the aho, which is 

 lashed at every fourth or fifth row to the rafter as well as to the horizontal aho. This 

 system saves much cord and seems very firm. The thatching is now in order. 



I do not know that a separate guild of thatchers existed in Hawaii, but it is 

 certain that the corners and doorway' were always entrusted to some skilful persons, 



FIG. 83. HOUSE NEAR HILO NEEDING A NEW ROOF. 



the main thatching being done by friends or neighbors of the owner. It was particu- 

 larly difficult to make the jundlion of the roof and gable walls weather-tight, for the 

 roof never projected beyond the plane of the wall, which was vertical or nearly so. 

 To close this against rain several devices, more or less effectual, were used, such as 

 braiding the tufts of thatch together, or bonneting the seam with thicker grass, or, 

 more commonly, with fern stems and fronds ; the latter device is shown on the house 

 in Fig. 66; but it seems never to have suggested the safer projecting portion of roof, 

 shown in the New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Maori and other houses of the Pacific 

 region. It is not impossible that the hipping of the gable ends as shown in that figure, 

 and in the illustrations of the house in this Museum, was suggested by the acknowl- 

 edged difficulty of making a tight joint ; at any rate the hipped gable seems to have 



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