Thatching the House. 97 



climate infest such houses. The plain grass when /c/r, was more desirable, but even 

 the grass itself was a pleasant harbor by day for countless cockroaches which came 

 out at night to disturb and pillage. These insects are of considerable size, often two 

 inches long, and of remarkable agility and keen appetite. I well remember my first 

 experience with them in a neat grass house in Puna, Hawaii. Father Titus Coan, of 

 the American Mission, and I were traveling along the shore of that now almost deserted 

 region, that grand old missionary on one of his pastoral tours, and I availing myself 

 of his guidance, when we spent a night in a very comfortable native house" (Fig. 84). 

 As soon as the kukui nut candles and the native stone lamps were lighted, that one of 

 the younger members of the family, our hosts, might read the bible in the family wor- 

 ship, the unbidden congregation of cockroaches assembled, and it required the active 

 services of a lad to brush the great insects from the page which would otherwise have 

 been covered. When we stretched ovirselves on the mat bed, rolled in a sheet of kapa, 

 we had the better of them, for every time we rolled over several gave up their lives in 

 loud pops, and in the morning we found windrows of the crushed remains on either 

 side of each sleeper. The}-, however, had their revenge, for during the night they ate 

 so much of my bridle that it could not be used until mended, and the oiled silk lining 

 of our hats was reduced to bare threads ; one of the party had the entire enamel eaten 

 from his patent leather shoes, leaving rough brown leather. This is one disadvan- 

 tage of grass houses. 



Supposing the lining in place, next the aho, the thatcher begins at a corner 

 with a very thick bunch of grass which he ties firmly to the lowest aho in such a way 

 that it extends somewhat around the corner; the roots are upward, and the cord is 

 bound in a single turn, and the next tuft quickly placed close at its side. The early 

 part of this process can be seen in Plate XXVII, as done on the house in the Bishop 

 Museum. The lower row must lay out on the ground or kahua, if there is one, and the 

 succeeding ones overlap; the durability of the roof or wall and its impermeability depend 

 much on the thickness of these successive layers. We have seen that in the Fijian 

 house the thickness is very great, much exceeding any I ever saw on the Hawaiian 

 group, but then it must be remembered that I saw this work here only in its decadence. 



The simple process of attaching the grass continues from the ground to the 

 ridge-pole, and then comes another process entirely : the bonneting may be done in 

 several ways, bvit the ground and object of each is the same, to so unite the rows of 

 thatch, which on the peak are quaquaversal, that no water can percolate, or be forced 



^^This picture was taken twenty-four years later, when the roof was greatly out of repair, but it serves to show 

 that a well-built house in that dry region will last a long time, when cared for. It seemed likely to last another 

 quarter century, but its doom had sounded, and when, a few years later the family removed to town, the old home 

 soon fell to decay and has long since disappeared, except the kahua or platform. 



Memoirs B. P. B. Museum, Vol. II. No. 3.-7. L^"^ J 



