526 



main piles and much higher (comp. figs. 2, 3, and 4). Tlie 

 order of construction is as follows: — First, the six main piles 

 are sunk ; then, before the upper floor, which rests on these six 

 main piles, is laid, the lower platform or verandah is made, 

 its size and position being determined by that of the six main 

 piles (hence the reason for its subsequent construction). The 

 men can now stand on the lower platform or verandah and 

 carry out the construction of the upper floor. When this is 

 finished the builders have a scaffolding ready for the making 

 of the roof. Thus they are able to construct the whole house, 

 which is a fairly high erection, without the necessity for 

 making a special scaffolding of any description. 



The preparatory work of supplying the material for con- 

 struction (the posts, poles, and boards) was undoubtedly the 

 most difficult part of the task, especially in olden days, when 

 everything had to be done with stone implements. There is 

 also a great difference between the material employed nowadays 

 in the construction of the houses, and that used previously, 

 the better tools now available enabling the native to obtain 

 timber much superior to that which was previously used. 



The six main piles had to be cut in the bush and brought 

 to the village, as well as the two higher ones which support 

 the roof, and the ei^ht to ten short piles for the verandah. The 

 preparation of the boards was still more laborious in olden 

 days. A tree had to be cut down ; a deep and fairly 

 narrow longitudinal groove was then scooped out (comp. fig. 

 la). After that the log was turned upside down so that the 

 groove was now underneath, and another longitudinal groove, 

 opposite the first one, was scooped out (fig. IbJ. Then, with 

 the aid of three pairs of poles wedged into one of the clefts, 

 the log is levered asunder (fig. Ic). The tree trunk has now 

 been split in halves, and the resulting two, fairly thick, logs 

 were subsequently planed by thin broad adzes — the type most 

 approaching the fine ceremonial blades. 



Besides the piles and the boards a number of, more or less, 

 thick poles is necessary in the construction of the house, and 

 a sufficiency of sago leaves is collected to be used for making 

 the thatch. 



The piles and boards of the recently-made houses are 

 made of the fairly hard Bedila tree. In olden days the much 

 softer timber of the Buhuna tree was used for boards, and the 

 piles were made either of Moda tree wood in the better houses or 

 of coconut palm trunks in the inferior ones. The thinner poles 

 and stakes are, and were, made of red mangrove. The pre- 

 paratory work was by no means easy. On Mailu Island, where 

 the natives had to fetch everything from the mainland, the 



