364 



FEEJEE GROUP. 



increase in quantity until they reach to the eaves, which are about 

 two or three feet thick, project some distance over the sides, and are 

 cut off square. 



c-&: ! 





MODE OF BUILDING HOUSES. 



The sides are closed in with small cane, in square wicker-work, 

 and not in diamond-shape, as those of Tonga. Mats are hung before 

 the doors. The mbures are built after the same manner, but the 

 roofs are more peaked ; they are generally fifteen or twenty feet 

 square, and about thirty feet high, and have an exceedingly awkward 

 appearance in our eyes. The common houses are oblong, from 

 twenty to thirty feet in length, and fifteen feet high. Some of the 

 best class of buildings, belonging to the chiefs, are exceedingly well 

 and ingeniously built. If a person wishes to build a house, he 

 carries a present of a whale's tooth to the king or chief, and tells him 

 his wish, the size, &c. The king or chief orders the men who are 

 generally employed for such purposes, to prepare the timber, and get 

 all things ready. The direction of the work is given to some one as 

 the chief superintendent, and from one to five hundred men are em- 

 ployed, as may be deemed necessary. The house is finished in ten 

 or fifteen days, and will last about five years without repairs to its 

 thatching. They are, however, generally considered as tenantable 

 for twenty years, or upwards. All the houses have fire-places a little 

 on one side of the centre : these are nothing more than an ash-pit, 

 with a few large stones to build the fire and place the pots on. The 

 same kind of fire-place is to be found in the mbures, where a fire is 

 kept burning night and day, which they believe the kalou or spirit 

 requires. The houses generally are not divided by partitions, but at 

 each end they are raised about a foot above the centre floor. These 

 elevations are for sleeping, and are covered with layers of mats until 

 they are soft and pleasant to lie on. In sleeping they use a pillow 



