152 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



article that they particularly desired. But as every thing seemed to 

 be indifferently kafilou, we at last concluded that it was a general 

 designation for property or merchandise. 



" After remaining an hour on the beach, we complied with their 

 invitation to visit their village. This was on the inner, or lagoon side 

 of the islet. It was composed of twenty or thirty houses, about as 

 large as those of the Sandwich islanders, of oblong shape, with eaves 

 sloping nearly to the ground. The height of the ridge-pole was from 

 ten to fifteen feet, arid it projected at each end about a foot beyond 

 the walls of the house, being covered over the whole length with 

 thatch. This thatch was of pandanus-leaves, laid on so loosely that a 

 considerable thickness was necessary to exclude the rain. The inside 

 of the houses was very clean, but we saw no furniture in any. It had 

 probably been removed on our coming on shore. In one part of the 

 town was a small open space strewed with sand and pebbles, which 

 they called the malae. When I asked for the fale atua (house of God) 

 they appeared to understand me, and pointed to some place at a 

 distance. 



" The most curious structures in the village were three small quays 

 or piers of coral stone, five feet wide and two or three in height, built 

 out into the lagoon, to the distance of about ten feet. On the end of 

 each was a small house, standing partly on piles over the water. We 

 could not learn if they were intended for landing-places, though this 

 purpose seemed hardly probable. On going to them, we saw the 

 three canoes that had visited the ship lying off about pistol-shot dis- 

 tance in the lagoon, filled with women and children. The natives 

 had evidently adopted this as the best mode of placing their treasures 

 beyond our reach, in case we should prove hostile. 



" We saw no arms among the people, nor in any of their houses, 

 neither were any scars visible upon their naked bodies ; so that we 

 have some grounds for believing that this simple people are, as yet, 

 strangers to the miseries of war. When we asked for their chief, 

 some pointed to an old, portly man, who appeared to have the most 

 consideration among them ; but others declared that there was none 

 present, and that the great chief (aliki) lived on an island in a south- 

 east direction, but whether they meant merely an islet on the other 

 side of the lagoon, or a more distant island, we could not determine. 



" Our impression was that we saw the entire population of the island. 

 Those who came off to the ship, twenty in number, were all whom 

 we saw on shore, and it seemed likely that had there been others on 



