58 DWELLINGS. 



a raised stao-e for the mats ; but in the dwellino--house of an 

 ordinary man no such partitions usually occur. Single men sleep 

 on the ground on a mat, which may be nothing more than the leaves 

 of two branches of the cocoa-nut palm rudely plaited together. Each 

 man lays his mat by the side of a little smouldering wood-fire, which 

 he endeavours to keep up during the night, and for this purpose he 

 gets up at all hours to fan it into a flame. 



There is but little attempt made to please the eye in the way of 

 external or internal decoration in the ordinary dwelling-house of a 

 native in the eastern islands. Rows of the lower jaws of pigs with 

 the skeletons of fishes and the dried skins of the flying-fox are to 

 be seen suspended from the roof over the entrance ; whilst the 

 spears, clubs, and fishing implements are either thrust between the 

 bamboos of the roof or slung in a bundle over the entrance. • Of 

 furniture there is but little except the large cooking-bowls, the 

 mats, and a circle of cooking-stones forming a rude hearth in the 

 centre of the floor. I have seen in temporary sheds or " lean-tos," 

 erected by fishing parties on the southern island of the " Three 

 Sisters," fire-places formed of a circle two to three feet across of 

 medium-sized Tridacna shells, the enclosed space being strewn with 

 small stones. 



The houses of the chiefs usually display more decoration. 

 Amongst others I recall to my mind the brightly-coloured front of 

 the residence of Haununo, the intelligent young chief of Santa Cata- 

 lina. I am not aware how long a native house will last. The 

 white residents, however, tell me that houses built for their own 

 use, which are more substantial than the ordinary native dwellings, 

 will stand some five or six years ; and that, notwithstanding 

 the heavy rainfall of this region, the thatch remains admirably 

 waterproof. 



I now come to the description of the houses in the islands of 

 Bougainville Straits. In the villages of Treasury and the Short- 

 lands, the houses are arranged in a long stragiiflino- row ; and althoufrh 

 close to the beach they are foi- the most part concealed by the tree? 

 from the view of those on board the ships in the anchorage. In the 

 materials used, in their style, and in their general size, these houses 

 resemble those of St. Christoval and the adjacent smaller islands. 

 A thatch made of the leaves of the sago-palm or of the pandanus,^ 

 covers the gable-roof and the framework of the walls. The usual 

 dimensions of a dwelling-house are : length 25 to 30 feet, breadth 



