248 TONGATABU. 



houses. The houses of the Tongans are small and oblong in 

 shape, about 20 feet by 10 feet in dimension. The walls are 

 of reed mats or plaited cocoanut leaves, and the thatch of 

 reeds. The posts and beams, often of cocoanut stems, are 

 lashed together with plaited cocoanut fibre. The ground within 

 is simply covered with Pandanus mats. There are usually two 

 doors or openings opposite one another in the middle of each 

 side of the house, which are closed with a mat only. In most 

 houses a sleeping chamber is partitioned off at one end by 

 means of mats. 



The only furniture to be seen within is the kaava bowl and 

 the pillows, wooden rods supported on four legs, on which the 

 neck is rested in sleep in order that the elaborately dressed 

 hair may not be disarranged. Most Polynesians use similar 

 pillows, and very various other races, such as the ancient 

 Egyptians and the modern Japanese. Long practice is required 

 to allow of their use. I have tried a Japanese pillow, but 

 found it far too painful to be endured for even half an hour. 



Near the houses are small sheds, underneath which a hole 

 in the ground serves as an oven for cooking. 



The houses at Nukualofa are clustered under the cocoanut 

 -trees, with three or four open roadways between them. The 

 people are remarkably hospitable, and delighted to get a 

 strange visitor into their houses to sit and communicate what 

 little can be managed in this way between persons knowing 

 almost nothing of each other's languages. They offer kaava or 

 cocoanuts as refreshment. 



The women are large, they have fine figures and are, most 

 of them, handsome. They wear a cotton cloth round the 

 loins, reaching down below the knees, or often, and especially 

 on week-days, a " lappa " or native cloth, made from the Paper 

 Mulberry. The missionaries have compelled them to cover 

 their breasts, which is done with a flap of cloth thrown up in 

 front, and a fine is imposed on any woman seen abroad without 

 this additional covering. The women, however, evidently have 

 little idea of shame in the matter ; and often the cloth is put 

 on so loosely that it affords no cover at all. 



The hair of the women was formerly cut short, as amongst 

 so many savages where the men keep to themselves the right 

 of cultivating and decorating the hair, but now it is often 

 allowed to grow long and fall down the back. It is oiled and 

 powdered with sandal-wood dust as a perfume. On Sundays 

 a few women appear in complete European dress, wearing 

 muslin gowns, and hats profusely decorated with gaudy artificial 

 flowers. The girls are most accomplished coquettes. 



The missionaries have prohibited dancing, and also the 



