Variations in Structure. 



105 



cipals still supported the ridge-pole, and the lower portion of the post, set firmly in the 

 ground, was able to resist the thrust which was distributed to the poukihi also by long 

 corner rafters (see Plate XXVII). This form was called /?;6'«. Houses built this way 

 were somewhat lower than the older double-pitch roofed houses, and better suited to 

 windy situations. This form was adopted by many of the early settlers, as most con- 

 venient when surrounded by a broad verandah. 



Another early and exceedingly convenient addition to the common grass house 

 in a land where the people lived so generally in the open air, was the lanai, shown well 



FIG. 88. HAWAIIAN VILLAGE ON NIIIIAU : ELLIS. 



in Fig. 84 : extensions of the rafters continued the roof forward at the same or a slightly 

 reduced slope. This verandah was, generally speaking, the most comfortable part of 

 the house. This lanai was often detached as in the Hale Kamani (Fig. 72), and was 

 sometimes of great size with walls of atap or coconut leaves intertwined, and a nearly 

 flat roof of similar substance which was intended to furnish shade rather than shelter 

 from heavy rain. 



These coconut leaves (for which in later times date palm leaves were a fair 

 substitute) were often used as an outside sheathing to the walls, protecting the thatch 

 in windy situations, but they never became the important house material that they 

 have been and are in India and the East Indian Archipelago. 



In the various accounts of the old Hawaiian houses there is no mention of any 



pent over the door in the sloping side. The Polynesians understood the importance 



of shielding the door of the house not only from the direct rain but especially from the 



[289] 



