I04 



The Ancient Hawaiian House. 



one, the Maya of Central America cut the cord on an ear of maize with feasting and 

 other signs of rejoicing. Like all recorded Hawaiian prayers thej' are interje^lional 

 and often difficult to translate — if, indeed, they have any meaning. 



Ku lalaui ka pule a ke oloalu i ke akua 

 O Kuwa wahi'a i ke piko o ka hale o — 

 A ku ! A wa ! A moku ka piko. 

 A moku ! A moku iho la ! 



A moku ka piko i ele-ua, i ele-ao 



I ka wai i Haakula-manu la 



B moku ! 



A moku ka piko o kui hale la 



E Mauli-ola ! 



I ola i ka uoho-hale, 



I ola i ke kauaka kipa mai, 



I ola i ka haku-aiua, 



I ola i ua'lii. 



Oia ke ola o kau hale e Mauli-ola ; 



Ola a kolo-pupu, a haumaka-iole, 



A pala lau-hala, a ka i koko. 



Amama, ua uoa. 



In correct form is the prayer of the company to 

 the god. 



The Kuwa cuts the piko of the house of . 



He stands ! He cuts ! The piko is cut ! 

 It is cut ! It is cut down ! 



Cut is the piko, the shedder of rain, shelter from 

 the water of Haakula-manu, oh ! 



Cut it ! 



Cut the piko of your house, 



O Mauli-ola ! 



Life to the house-dweller, 



L,ife to the guest, 



lyife to the lord of the laud, 



Life to the chiefs. 



Continue the life of your house, O Mauli-ola; 



Life to advanced old age, till the eyes are dim. 



To the last stages of decay, till borne in a ham- 

 mock. The prayer is offered. It is free. 



Some of the variations in the Hawaiian house may now claim our attention. 

 In all the main strudlure was the same; stick and thatch, posts, plates, rafters and 

 ridge-pole, btit local or individual fancies or needs had their way and an old Hawaiian 

 village was not always a confused cluster of hayricks. In the first place the pouhana 

 were often, in some places generally, inclined from the perpendicular either at one or 

 both ends of the house, so that the ridge-pole that they supported was appreciably 

 shorter than the distance between their bases. This was a disposition tending to 

 strengthen the house frame, and the higher the house the more important such dispo- 

 sition. This form is shown in Fig. 90, and more definitely in a photograph taken in 

 1888 (Fig. 89), of an ancient house on the exact site of the priests' houses at the time 

 of Cook's visit and death. This was between the shore and the sacred tank of the 

 heiau where Cook was worshipped ; it was deserted and seemed to have been so for 

 some time, although the frame was sound, only the lashings were decayed. Dr. Ellis, 

 the assistant surgeon of Cook's ships, gives us a pi(5lure of the houses that stood here 

 a hundred years ago. Fig. 90, and I am inclined to believe that the frame may have 

 belonged to one of these. Since the photograph was taken the house has disappeared. 



It was not a great change, but a great advance, to break the pouhana and the 



kukuna at the level of the lohelau or plate; carrying this completely around the house, 



thus strengthening the walls, and shortening the ridge-pole about one-half. The prin- 



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