DESCEIPTION OF HUTS. 



226 



islands to the westward are overrun. To the stout 

 uprig-hts are lashed transverse bars supporting 

 three long parallel timbers running the whole 

 length of the floor ; on these seven or eight 

 transverse poles are laid^ crossed by about a dozen 

 longitudinal and slighter ones, on which a flooring 

 of long strips of the outer wood of the cocoa-nut 

 tree is laid across. After penetrating the floor, the 

 main posts rise five feet higher, where they are 

 connected at top by others as tie-beams, which cross 

 them, and project a little further to sustain the two 

 lateral of the five longitudinal supports of the roof, 

 which, at the gable ends, are further secured by 

 other tie-beams. On the two central cross-bars also 

 is laid a platform running one half the length of 

 the hut, floored on one side, forming a partial upper 



VOL. I 



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