294 Memoirs Be mice P. Bisliop Miiseitin 



valuables of the occupants. As a protection from rats the cords by which the 

 buntlles were suspended passed through inxerted gourd shells. The cords passed 

 over the ridgepole and were tied at a convenient height so that to get a bundle 

 it was only necessary to loosen the cord and lower away. The whole house was 

 kept scrupulously clean and formed a healthy and agreeable dwelling. 



SPECIAL HOUSES 



In addition to the houses of the two main types already described, the Rlar- 

 quesans appear to have built a few special structures of slightly divergent form. 

 No buildings of these minor types have survived; they must be reconstructed from 

 the fragmentary accounts of informants. 



The storehouse was not built on a paepae but was raised above the 

 ground on four to six posts. It stood near the dwelling pacpae. preferably at one 

 end, and its floor was at about the same level as that of the house. It was a small 

 structure shaped like a dwelling, but the use of a raised floor must have necessitated 

 minor changes in construction which can not now be ascertained. The floor was 

 made of fau poles. In the better storehouses the posts and frame work were 

 carved and there was a liberal use of ornamental lashings. The house was used 

 for the storage of tapu articles and was sometimes used as a residence by old 

 men. It was tapu to women. The native name for this house was {ata'a, a word 

 whose resemblance to the Maori word pataka (applied to small elevated store- 

 houses) is obvious. 



I'isherman's houses were built within the precincts of the fishermen's 

 sacred ])lace. In Atu Ona, Hiva Oa, these houses were of special form according 

 to information obtained by Handy (^2). They were raised on posts like the fata' a 

 already described. The floor was of fau poles and the roof was of the small 

 house type. The ends of the house were closed and in one end, a small rectan- 

 gular door was built. These houses must have been a local development, for the 

 fishermen's houses in the valley of Pua Ma'u, on the same island, were not of 

 this type. 



Ihw fiikaii were sacred structures erected in nic'ae. They are mentioned 

 by Gracia (28, p. 57) and by Porter (49, p. iii). Porter describes them as fol- 

 lows : "To the right and left of these gods are two obelisks, formed very fanci- 

 fully and neatly of bamboos and the leaves of the palm and coconut trees inter- 

 woven. The whole is handsomelv decorated with streamers of white cloth which 

 give a ])ictures(|ue and elegant appearance. The obelisks are about thirtv-five feet 

 in height." 



According to information obtained by Piandy {^2) in Pua Ma'u, Hiva Oa, 

 these houses were built by the taputoho, a revenge victim {hcana) being sacrificed 



[34] 



