454 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



The native priest and a few of his connections reside at Hanga Koa, 

 only those in the employ of Mr. Salmon live at Vaihu, and the only set- 

 tlement on the island that may be termed a village, is the one at Mata- 

 veri. The primitive huts formerly used by the natives (Fig. 1 ) have 



I 











'■■' • areajpsr 



'km^A&Msmmmiki^ 



Fig. 1. 



Native houses built of bulrushes. 



been abandoned for more comfortable dwellings constructed under the 

 direction of a Danish carpenter out of material obtained from the wreck- 

 age of several vessels loaded with Oregon lumber. These buildings are 

 of a style of architecture commonly met with in small cheap barns and 

 stables, but to the simple-minded islanders they supply all the comforts 

 that could be desired. 



These houses are usually about 25 feet long and 15 feet wide with 

 undressed weather-boards and roofed with the same material. Hinged 

 doors open in the center and admit light and ventilation, though a few 

 of the more pretentions buildings are furnished with small glazed win- 

 dows. The floors are of bare earth strewn with a litter of dried grass, 

 filthy and vermin-infested from long use. Mats made of bulrushes aie 

 spread out for sleeping ; .several rough bedsteads and chests were seen, 

 but the majority of the houses are destitute of furniture or ornament. 

 Several families occupy the same dwelling; men, women, and children 

 lie down together like dogs in a kennel, and with about the same ideas 

 of what constitutes the comforts of life. 



FLORA. 



The native traditions agree in the statement that the discoverers of the 

 island found it destitute of trees and all vegetation except grasses and 

 a creeping vine bearing a dehiscent fruit to which the name Moki-oo-ne 



