Linton — Tlic Marquesas Islands 297 



On the basis of house type, Polynesia as a whole may be divided into two 

 parts : a central part, including" Tonga, Samoa, and to a lesser degree the Society 

 Islands, in which the houses were oval, with rounded apses ; and a marginal portion 

 including New Zealand, the Marquesas and Hawaii, in which the houses were 

 rectangular. In the central section there was no distinction between floor space 

 and bed space, and the platform was unimportant. Some of the houses were 

 furnished with wooden stools. Legged pillows of wood or bamboo were in re- 

 gular use. In the marginal section there was a permanent division of bed and 

 floor, a stone platform was used everywhere but in New Zealand and there was 

 no furniture. 



The Marquesan house had little in common with the central Polynesian 

 type, and appears to be intermediate in form between the two varieties of the mar- 

 ginal type — that is, the Maori and the Hawaiian. In the arrangement of the 

 frame and the common use of a stone platform and side entrance, it resembles 

 the Hawaiian form. On the other hand the use of carved decoration links it 

 with the Maori form, as does also the occurrence of a slide door. The fafa'a, or 

 store house on poles, finds no parallel in Hawaii or central Polynesia, but it 

 closely resembles the Maori pataka. The use of ornamental lashings is absent in 

 both Hawaii and New Zealand, but is highly developed in many parts of the 

 central area. The best explanation for these facts appears to be that the Maori, 

 Marquesan and Hawaiian forms are descended from a common ancestor, but that 

 the Maori and Marquesan houses have been affected by some influence which in- 

 troduced house carving and the fata'a type of structure, an influence which did not 

 reach Hawaii. The Marquesan houses were then further modified by the intro- 

 duction of ornamental lashings, a feature which did not reach either Hawaii or 

 New Zealand. 



U7] 



