VAVAU. 93 



On all sides was to be heard the sound of the mallets used 

 in making tapa, which, far from being disagreeable to me, 

 had something, as it were musical, in its hollow tone. I 

 obtained some particulars respecting the mode of preparing 

 this fabric ; the bark employed is never more than two 

 inches Avide ; small narrow strips are first manufactured, 

 and then glued together by means of arrowroot, so as to 

 form pieces of any length or width desired. Oil also appears 

 to be a product much attended to, as we saw in every 

 hamlet two or three canoe-shaped bowls filled Avith cocoa- 

 nut pulp, which is submitted to the sun's action for the 

 purpose of being converted into it. Compared with any- 

 thing I had yet seen, all around me appeared clean and 

 comfortable. Many of the houses were surrounded, as with 

 walls, by palisades made of cocoa-nut leaves cleverly twisted ; 

 though generally resembhng in their forms and roofs those 

 I had already seen in other places ; they had this peculiarity 

 about them, that they have mats of cocoa-nut leaves closely 

 attached to each other hung round them ; they have each 

 two large entrances facing each other, the sleeping part 

 being separated by a partition of mats. Of the chapel at 

 Neiafu, Avhi(;h is of an elliptical form, with a roof carefully 

 and even elegantly made, I am tempted to give the follow- 

 ing description by Captain Erskine,^ as illustrative of the 

 artistic skill of the natives : ' This building is of large dimen- 

 sions, being 100 feet long by 45 wide, and 28 or 29 high. 

 In general design it resembles those of Samoa, having 

 1 ' Cruise of the " Havannali," ' p. 117. 



