Linton — Tlic Marqncsas Islands 271 



HOUSES 

 THE MARQUESAN DWELLING AND ITS ADJUNCTS 



The establishment of a Marquesan commoner consisted of only two houses, 

 the dwelling and a cook house — an open shed with a frame of the dwelling type. 

 Both buildings stood in a small yard which was often enclosed by a rough stone 

 wall about three feet high. Rich commoners had another house, the store house 

 {fata' a), which was usually built near the end of the dweUing. A chief's estab- 

 lishment was much more elaborate, consisting of a dwelling, a cook house, a 

 store house and a men's house or warriors' house which served as an eating place 

 for the chief and as a general club room and assembly place for his male friends. 

 Both the store house and warriors' house were tapu to women. The chief's 

 establishment was always built near the tribal assembly place (tohiia) and the 

 public sacred place (mc'ac). Both of these structures were considered the prop- 

 erty of the chief. 



Very few buildings of aboriginal type are in use in the Marquesas at the 

 present time and no large structures of ancient form have been erected in recent 

 years. The Marquesans appear to have had only two types of houses although 

 there were several minor variations of one of these types. One tj'-pe, which will 

 be referred to as the small house type, was used for all sorts of small and temp- 

 orary structures built with a minimum of labor. The other, which will be referred 

 to as the dwelling type, was used for residences and for all other large and per- 

 manent buildings. Most houses were btiilt on the ground or on stone platforms 

 (paepae) but a few structures, notably the store house and the houses in which 

 young people received religious instruction, were raised on posts. 



THE SMALL HOUSE TYPE 



Small temporary houses were erected for the accommodation of women 

 during childbirth, as dwellings for solitary old people, as places for the tattooing 

 of women and commoners and as camping places in uninhabited ^'alleys. As a 

 rule such houses were built on the ground without a stone platform and were of 

 simpler construction than the dwellings. The framework consisted of two end 

 posts supporting a ridge pole against which two rows of light poles were leaned 

 from either side, forming the rafters. The main timbers were not dressed but 

 the rafters, commonly of fau wood, were stripped of their bark. This bark was 

 twisted into strings and later used to tie on the thatch. The timbers of the 

 framework were lashed together with bark string. The thatch was usually made 

 of coconut mats arranged longitudinally, the lower edge of each mat overlapping 

 the top of the one below. These mats were fastened to the rafters by strips of 



