296 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bisho/^ Mitscuui 



raising the entire house on posts, or by nialcing the roof of disproportionate heit^ht. 

 Houses of both tvpes ai)i)ear to have been used in all the islands, hut the larger 

 type shows more or less local variation in the form of the pacpac. in size, and in 

 decoration. In Xuku Hiva and Ua Huka the pacpac was as a rule much wider in 

 proportion to its length than in the islands further south and in Xuku Hiva many 

 pacpac were provided with a pit for tapu objects. The use of ctit stone as edging 

 for the house floor, although of sporadic occurrence in all the islands, was most 

 frequent in Xuku Hiva and least frequent in Fatu Hiva. The decoration of the 

 dwelling pacpac with ornamental masonry api)ears to have been limited to Xuku 

 Hiva, and its decoration with stone figures, to Hiva Oa, with a single doubtful 

 example from Xuku Hiva. As a class the houses of Xuku Hiva were the largest 

 in the group and those of Fatu Hiva, the smallest and most poorl}- built. 

 Carved ])osts are said never to have been used in the dwellings of Ua Huka, 

 were rare in Xuku Hi\'a, but were very common in Hiva Oa, Tau Ata and 

 Fatu Hiva. Ornamental lashings were used everywhere in the Marquesas, but 

 a])i)ear to have played a more important part in the decoration of houses in the 

 northern than in the southern part of the group. 



CO^IPARISON OF POLYXESI.\X HOUSES 



Structures corresponding to the Marquesan small house type (p. 271) are 

 of rather wide occurrence in Polynesia. They are recorded from Hawaii, where 

 they represent the original form from which the other house types were devel- 

 oped. They are also found in Tonga and in the Society Islands. The dwelling 

 house type, as described on page 2/2, is characteristic of the ^Marquesas, and so 

 far as known is peculiar to that group of islands. 



It seems probable, therefore, that the original settlers of the Marquesas 

 brought with them a knowledge of the small house type and that the dwelling 

 type is a later local development. The small house, while easily made, was incon- 

 venient on account of the lack of head room and the large amount of waste space 

 under the edges of the roof on either side. To develop the dwelling type from the 

 small house type it was only necessarv to raise the roof on one side and prop it 

 up with posts placed along the outer edge. Even now small houses are occasion- 

 ally enlarged in this way. The use of a stringer along the front of the house to 

 keep the rafters from sagging between posts would be a ste]) requiring no great 

 inventive genius, while an increase in the pitch of the rear roof, cutting down the 

 \\aste space along its lower edge, would soon follow. The complete absence in 

 the Marquesas of houses with both front and rear walls is rather curious as the 

 natives were in occasional contact with the Tuamotus and Society Islands, where 

 walled houses were in regular use. 



