Linton — TJic Marquesas Islands 277 



thickness at center (bottom) 43^^ inches; thickness at edges, 2 inches; depth of 

 notch for ridgepole, 6 inches. The thickness of the edges remains fairly uni- 

 form for the entire length, but the central thickness decreases slightly toward 

 the top. The end posts are planted at either end of the bed space, 6 to 8 inches 

 within the line of the end wall of the house, their broadest sides being toward the 

 interior of the house. In the houses of Hiva Oa the forward edges of the end 

 posts rest against the rear edge of the paved house floor, but in those of Nuku 

 Hiva the posts are placed a foot or more further back, giving the rear roof a 

 much more abrupt pitch. 



In all the houses seen the ridgepole was hewn from a single log and ran 

 the entire length of the house, projecting slightly beyond the end walls. Inform- 

 ants say that a palm log was formerly used for this member, but all those 

 seen were of breadfruit wood. Much care was evidently expended in shap- 

 ing the ridgepole properly. The ridgepoles seen in the Northern Division were 

 round and had been rubbed down to a smooth surface, while those of Hiva Oa 

 were polygonal in cross section with eight to twelve facets of approximately 

 ecjual width, each of which ran the entire length of the timber. The ridgepole 

 rested in the notches of the end posts, but was not attached to them in any way. 



The front posts in ordinary dwellings varied in height from three to five 

 feet, depending upon the size of the structure. In Hiva Oa and Tahu Ata they 

 were commonly rectangular in cross section, but Stewart (59, pp. 233-236), who 

 gives the best early description of Marquesas houses, says that those used in 

 Nuku Hiva were round. The front posts of a large house on the island of Ua 

 Pou were rectangular in the center, but tapered toward the top and bottom, and 

 were almost round at the extremities. In Hiva Oa and Tahu Ata the central pair 

 of posts, which formed the jambs of the door, were cut in such a way as to leave a 

 projecting semicircular shelf at the top. When the posts were carved in the form 

 of tiki a short cylindrical neck was usually left projecting above the head of the 

 figure. The upper ends of the posts were either finished with a semicircular 

 notch, like that on the large end posts, or with a neck which fitted into a hole 

 pierced through the front stringer, or were simply left flat. It is probable that 

 posts with notched ends or necks are ancient and that posts with flat ends were 

 made after the introduction of metal tools. 



There were usually six front posts, although houses with four and eight 

 front posts were observed and large houses may have had more. The central 

 pair were rather closely spaced, serving as the jambs of the door, while the others 

 were placed at equal intervals between these and the ends of the house. In most 

 of the structures visited the front posts were not planted in the platform ; they 

 were held in place at the bottoms by a deepl}^ notched stringer running the entire 



[17] 



