40 



porter's JOiJKiNAL. 



with the utmost neatness and strength, rows of smaller 

 bamboos, placed in a horizontal position, and this forms a 

 frame work for the back part of the house, which also an- 

 swers for one side of the roof. At the distance of five feet 

 in advance of the aforesaid long pillars, are fixed in the 

 ground four uprights, extending eight feet above the sur- 

 face, having also a crutch for the reception of a cocoa-nut 

 tree, or sometimes a piece of hewn timber neatly fashion- 

 ed for the purpose. This also extends the whole length 

 of the house, and serves to support the front part of the 

 roof, which is formed of the same materials, and is secured 

 in the same manner as the back part of the building. The 

 ends are, in like manner, closed in, as sometimes are the 

 sides, for the distance of twelve feet, forming at each end 

 of the house a small room. The frame work being com- 

 pleted, they proceed to cover it, first with the leaves of 

 the palm tree, and next with those of the bread-fruit tree, 

 which are laid on with surprising neatness and regularity, 

 and give it an appearance of beauty, security, and durabi- 

 lity not to be equalled by our best mode of shingling. The 

 building is then divided longitudinally into two equal partSj 

 by placing from one end to the other, in the middle, the 

 trunk of a cocoa-nut tree: the part toward; the front is 

 then neatly paved with smooth stones : the back part is 

 covered with the finest mats, and is occupied as a sleeping 

 place for the whole family : the middle tree serving for them 

 to place their feet against, and a similar one placed against 

 the back of the building serves them as a pillow. The 

 external and more useful parts of the house being finished, 

 they proceed to ornament it by covering the bamboos, 

 which form the frame work, with different coloured cocoa- 

 nut sinnet, put on in the most fanciful manner, while the 

 upright columns are covered first by layers of their finest 

 and whitest cloth, which is firmly secured by the sinnet 

 aforesaid, in such a manner, as to give them, at a short dis- 

 tance, the appearance of being handsomely and fancifully 

 painted. Sometimes, indeed, the columns are richly carv- 

 ed in the form of gods, and give to the whole an air of 

 grandeur and elegance, which, although in a style differing 

 from that of every other people in the world, does not the 

 less astonish. 



But, to proceed in my narrative : the Tayees had brought 



