94 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OK 



of this kind, and many pickets across the town in various directions, 

 which would make a good defence, if the warriors were resolute. It 

 is not improbable, that the more warlike natives of the southern islands, 

 particularly those of Drummond's Island, will, ere long, push their 

 conquests to the northern islands, and extend their rule over them. Two 

 years before the arrival of the Peacock, the natives of Apamama, Na- 

 nouki, and Kuria, apprehended an attack from this quarter; when the 

 king collected his forces to the number of between five and six thou- 

 sand, who continued under arms through the whole summer; but after 

 all it proved a false alarm. 



Their houses and canoes are better built than any we found else 

 where in the Pacific, and all their structures are large, strong, and 

 durable, though constructed of the most unsuitable materials : they 

 are so well combined as to display much elegance as well as strength. 

 Their dwelling-houses and mariapas have been noticed, but there is 

 another description of house, without a loft, in which the chiefs pass 

 most of their time, receiving visits, and conversing with their friends 

 and dependants. 



On the island of Makin the houses are of larger dimensions, in con- 

 sequence of the abundance of timber. From Wood's description of 

 their mariapa, it is an enormous structure. The canoes have already 

 claimed a notice : those built in the northern islands are much the lar- 

 gest, some of them being sixty feet in length. 



From the importance of their structures or buildings, the trade of a 

 carpenter is held in great repute : those who exercise it are either de- 

 pendent on the chiefs, working by their orders, or free born: the latter 

 are paid for their services. The time required for building a house is 

 about two months, and the price of such a job, two or three rolls of 

 their bread, called " kabul." A canoe capable of carrying ten persons 

 takes five or six months to build. The payment is proportioned to the 

 length of time occupied in the work. The whole town is engaged in 

 the labour of constructing one of their mariapas. A very great pro- 

 portion of their time is taken up in the manufacture of their dresses ; 

 and while the men are engaged in building houses and canoes, the 

 women fabricate the articles of dress, sails, mats for flooring, and those 

 worn by the men. The mats are made of the leaves of the pandanus, 

 slit into strips about a quarter of an inch wide, and woven by hand : 

 these are of two colours, light yellow and dark brown ; the former are 

 made 'from the young leaves, and the latter from the old, which are 

 prepared by beating them with a mallet to render them pliable. On 

 the yellow mats they bestow a great deal more of their attention : the 

 young leaves are laid aside for two or three days after they are 



