Linton — Tlic Marquesas Islands 273 



were much wider in proportion to their length than in Hiva Oa, Tahu Ata and 

 Fatu Hiva, many of them being ahiiost square, but the house floor was everywhere 

 long and narrow. The local differences are due to the greater or less width of the 

 veranda part. 



The perfect paepae contains stones of three sorts : large irregular stones, 

 preferably water-worn, used for the walls ; flat, water-worn bowlders, used to pave 

 the veranda and house floor; and large rectangular slabs of cut stone (ke'etii), 

 used to face the front of the elevated house floor. The paepae show all degrees 

 of variation, from this ideal arrangement, depending upon the materials available, 

 the importance of the owner and the local excellence of the mason's art. In 

 Nuku Hiva the kc'cfu facing of the house floor was a practically constant feature. 

 In Ua Huka ke'etii facings were common but not constant and in Hiva Oa they 

 were limited to a few of the better built houses, usually those of chiefs. In 

 Fatu Hiva ke'etii were very rare. The use of flat water-worn bowlders for pav- 

 ing was much more usual but even these were sometimes dispensed with. In one 

 of the interior valleys of Hiva Oa practically all paepae were built of rough stones 

 throughout. The paepae of a chief's house in the valley of Haka Ui, Nuku Hiva, 

 had the house floor paved with large flat slabs which had apparently been split 

 like European flag stones. As Stewart (59, p. 291) mentions the vise of flags in 

 this or a similar structure in Haka Ui in 183 1, their presence can scarcely have 

 been due to European influence. 



After the introduction of metal tools cut stone in the form of rectangular 

 blocks was frequently used for paepae and in a few recently built paepae the 

 stones were set in ordinary lime mortar. 



The building of the paepae was supervised by a special tuhuna who drew 

 on the ground the outline of the structure and with his own hands laid the first 

 complete course of stone. He merely supervised the remainder of the construc- 

 tion, leaving the actual labor to the friends and relatives of the owner. The 

 same tuhuna also supervised the construction of uie'ae and other ceremonial struc- 

 tures, but he appears to have been simply a master builder, not a priest. 



After the first course of stone had been laid, the space thus enclosed was 

 filled with earth and stones, and the process was repeated after the laying of 

 each successive course until the desired height was reached. The stones of the 

 side walls were usually arranged so as to give the largest possible external sur- 

 face, although a phrase in Dordillon's Dictionary (17) "E tuku te kea niatapao 

 kaoko" (Solid masonry — to place the long way of the stone in the thickness of 

 the wall) shows that a more stable form of construction was known. After the 

 side walls had been constructed the ke'ctu were set on edge along the front of the 

 proposed house floor, a third or even a half of their width usuallv being imbedded in 



[13] 



