92 



Tlie Ancient Haivaiian House. 



less in diameter, are placed in line, with equal interspaces, and firmly fixed in the groixnd; 

 the plate, lohelau, is then placed in its groove and temporarily bound to each with cord. 



The opposite side is next eredled, and the old Hawaiians must have had some 

 diificulty, in case of a large house, to get the correct position, for thej- do not seem to 

 have had the method of the Maori of the //fl'?/;-cX'/ or measurement bj' diagonals; at 

 least, I find no word in the Hawaiian language corresponding to this, and while the 

 small houses were generally fairly recflangular, the large Iieian or temples were often 

 far from it when tested b3' the accurate methods of a survey.'" 



The gable ends were next taken, and a cord the length from centre to centre of 

 the corner posts was doubled to obtain the point midway between the posts, where the 

 highest posts, those that determined the 

 height and so the pitch of the roof, were 

 planted, being aligned as were the posts of 

 the front and back. These poii/iana were 

 notched on the top to receive the ridge-pole, 

 and like the carved centre-post of the New 

 Zealand hoiise, had something of a sacred 

 charaAer, although not to the extent, per- 

 haps, of the Maori post. Under one of these 

 was buried the victim anciently offered to 

 the gods,'" although some authorities claim one of the corner posts for this honor. 

 As there is a special name for this ■posi, pon o Mann, it would suggest that it might be 

 any convenient post. I have never dug up any bones on the site of an old house, with 

 a single exception : in mj' own garden I found the skull of a young male about where an 

 ancient house stood, but there was nothing to show what post of the house stood where 

 the skull was found ; and it might have been a simple interment. It is so long since the 

 custom of sacrifice ceased that probably no bones would remain. By analog}' in con- 

 sidering the custom of the other Polynesians, I am inclined to believe that a pouhana was 

 the chosen post. Half way between the pouhana and the poukihi came the knknna, posts 

 planted in the ground and lashed to the end rafters. Stout ropes were then bound around 

 the house to hold the whole frame tightlj' together until the rafters were in place. 



FIG. 76. DIAGRAM OF HOUSE PLAN. 



"Tliis common measurement is simplj' this, referring to Fig. 76 : AB = CD and AC = ED, but it is not a rec- 

 tangle unless AD ^ CB. 



5° While there can be no question that the offering was made to secure the stability' of the house, there is 

 question as to what god the offering was ma<le. The name of the post at the base of which the victim was placed 

 ■was poll o Ahiini which hardly liglitens the difficulty. Manu was the name of the two gods standing at Lono's door. 

 Manu. meaning throughout Polynesia a bird, was in mythology applied especially to "The great Bird of Tane, the 

 Bird that goes round the heavens." In Hawaiian it is The great white Bird of Kane. Among the Maori the kiwi or 

 Apteryx is called Te manu huna a Tane, "The hidden bird of Tane." On the other hand the Polynesian word manu 

 means to launch, to cause to float, to establish, and the name of the post may merely signify a memorial of the 

 founding of the house, a sort of "corner stone". 



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