lOO 



The Ancient Hawaiian House. 



passed across the doorway, near the floor, in snch a waj' that an iutrnder would trip it 

 from a peg in one of the door posts. The weight of the stone (one in this Mnseum 

 weighs 36.7 pounds) was sufficient to kill or at least disable one on whose back it fell. 

 This man-trap would perhaps be most convenient with a sliding door, but could be so 

 arranged as to be tripped by the act of opening a swinging door. When the family 



FIG. 86. SACRED HOUSE WITH THE KAI'U SIGN ACROSS THE DOOR. 



were absent the most secure way of fastening the door was by the kapii. The signs of 

 this universally respeAed prohibition were various : two sticks crossed before a door, 

 as in Fig. 86; stick with a tuft of white kapa or a white ball on the tip, planted on 

 either side, were most usual ; while a coconut tree or a bunch of bananas could be pre- 

 served from theft by a fillet of white kapa bound around it. 



The floor when at its best was of small pebbles carefully leveled and covered 

 with mats. Commoner were the floors of earth covered with dried grass which mats 

 kept in place. Such were the floors of the early churches built for the missionaries, 



in one of which at Kalapana on the east coast of Hawaii, I have attended and taken 



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