FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 757 
tandcusly produced, and where they ‘enjoy perpetual’ before his house, a stranger passing by’ will sit down. Friendly 
\. peace and abundance, under the protection of the sus among them without ceremony, and expect a share of _[slands. 
—“Y~"" preme divinity. ‘The lower. élasses,- howévet,- are sup- the meal, siedtinnaeptatanae 
posed'to have no share ‘in this future bliss; and seldom ~‘The houses of the natives are- constructed with little. Habita- 
ingenuity or taste, and are, properly speaking, nothing tions. 
ng these superstitious 
practices, may be mentioned the“ taboo,” although it 
may probably be nothing more than a political regulation. 
The word is used with. great latitude of meaning, but 
seems to signify “prohibited,” or set apart from common 
use. A house becomes tabooed by the king’s presence, 
and can no longer be inhabited by the owner ; and hence 
there are 'y houses provided in every quarter for 
the use of his majesty. A space of ground may be ta- 
booed, and all persons are then interdicted from passing 
overit. Any article of food may be tabooed by the offi- 
cer who has the proper authority, so as to be withdrawn 
from use for agiventime. By assisting at a funeral, or 
consid deutitendidy the hands are tabooed, and can- 
not be employed in taking 
and is applied to the ki 
is called Eree-taboo, to the residence of the king of 
the Friendly Islands, Tonga-taboo, * - + - 
As cultivated roots and fruits form the chief subsist- 
ence of these islanders, they are all employed in hus- 
bandry, in which they have attained a considerable de- 
gree of skill. Their plantations are generally surround- 
dispersed without any order, and soon require little até 
tention; the sugar-cane, which is usually crowded into 
small spots, without any order; the mulberry, from 
which cloth is made, which is allowed an open space, and 
kept very clean; the pandanus, planted in close rows at 
the sides of the fields; the yams and plantains, which 
are put into'the ground with great exactness, so as ‘to 
form squares in every direction. The instruments used 
for the purpose are nothing more than wooden stakes, 
flattened and sharpened at one end ; and sometimes the 
largest have a short piece fixed transversely, by means of 
which press the implement into the ground with the 
foot. With these stakes they make small holes for the 
reception of the roots, and then dig up the surrounding 
grass. Notwithstanding, however, the fineness of the 
climate, and the fertility of the soil, there generally oc- 
curs a period of scarcity before the gathering of the new 
fruits, which may be owing to the improvidence of the 
natives, the deficiency of the produce, or the difficulty 
of preserving it; and sometimes to the prevalence of in- 
surrections, preventing cultivation, so as often to pro- 
duce an actual famine. 
Though there is no community of goods among them, 
it is the custom to apply freely for provisions to those 
who have plenty; and it would be accounted a gross 
breach of hospitality to refuse, while any stores remain- 
ed. Should any one be sitting with his family at meat 
more than thatched toofs or sheds, supported by posts and, 
rafters: ~The floor is raised with earth, smoéothed and 
levelled, and covered with thick matting. |. Some of them 
are open on-all sides, but generally they are enclosed om 
the weather side with strong: mats, or branches of the 
cocoa-nut tree interwoven with each other. » A thick mat, 
about three feet: broad, bent into a semicircular form; 
placed edgewise, and sometimes fastened to the beams, 
encloses a ‘space as a bed-room for 'the master of the fa- 
mily and his wife ; while the rest sleep upon any part of 
the floor, the unmarried men and women lying in differ+ 
ent places ; and if the household is large, there are little 
huts adjoining for the children and servants. . The: habi« 
tations of the lower class are only wretched hovels, scarces 
ly sufficient to shelter them from the weather; but those 
of the chiefs are more comfortable and commodious, their 
ordinary dimensions being about 12 feet in height, 20 in 
breadth, ‘and 30 in length. The house of the second 
chief in Tongataboo was 50 feet in length, and of an 
oval form. One large and lofty post was fixed in the 
centre, and an oval ring of lesser ones were planted round 
it at equal distances, forming the sides of the building. 
Upon those posts, layers were fixed, and from these, rafs 
ters were extended to the pillarin the middle, thus unite 
ing the wliole edifice. The inside of the roof wasyornas 
mented with beautiful matting, which was protected by 
an outer thatch of plantain branches, interwoven like bas« 
ket work. In rainy weather, screens of matting, made 
of the cocoa tree, were fastened to the outer posts, but 
the door-way was left open night and day. The floor 
was covered with beautiful matting, of so close ‘a texture 
as to be impervious to insects. The furniture generally 
consists of some wooden stools, which are used as: pil- 
lows ; two or three wooden bowls for holding their fa« 
vourite liquor kava ; baskets of different sizes, into which 
they put their tools ; fish-hooks, &c.;'a bundle ‘or two 
of cloth, a few gourds, and cocoa-nut shells. 
They discover more ingenuity in the construction and Canoes. 
ornaments of their canoes, which are the most perfect of 
their mechanical productions, and which surpass in neats 
ness of workmanship all others in the South Sea. They 
are built of several planks of the bread-fruit tree, sewn 
together with ¢ocoa-nut line in so neat. a manner, that 
they appear on the outside as if they were composed of 
one solid piece. The fastenings are all on the inside; 
and pass through kants or ridges, wrought on purpose on 
the edges and ends of the different boards. They are of 
two kinds, double and single. The single canoes are 
from 20 to 30 feet in length, about 22 inches broad in 
the middle, and 18 inches deep, with the head resem-- 
bling the point of a wedge, and the stern terminating in 
a blunter point. At each end is a kind of deck, extend- 
ing one third of the whole length ; but they are open in. 
the middle. They have all out riggers, and are some- 
times navigated with sails, but more generally with pad- 
dles, the blades of which are short, and broadest in the 
middle, The double canoes are composed of two vessels, 
about 60 or 70 feet long, 4’or 5 broad in the middle, 
and 3 deep, exclusive of the deck. These are fastened 
together, about six or seven feet asunder, by strong cross 
beams, secured by bandages to risings on the open mide 
5 
