HOUSES. 
501 
the nobleman’s ancestral picture gallery ; between these 
posts there is generally a space of two feet, which is filled 
up with a kind of lattice-work, composed of slender laths, 
dyed black, white, or red, and bound together with narrow 
strips of the kiekie leaf, very tastefully disposed in patterns, 
this is called arapaki ; there is also a skirting board (jpajpa- 
whaij painted red ; and the rafters, which are either carved 
or painted with different colored ochres, rest on a ridge 
pole (tahuhuj in which a notch is cut to receive them ; 
this ridge pole is always the entire length of the build- 
ing, including that of the verandah, being generally of a 
triangular shape, and very heavy ; it is supported by a 
post or pillar fjoou-tahuJ , in the middle of the house, the 
bottom of which is carved in the form of a human figure, 
representing the founder of the family — and is thus a kind 
of lares ; immediately before the face of this figure is 
the fire-place, a small pit formed by four slab stones sunk 
into the ground ; perhaps this is some relic of ancient fire- 
worship in the position of the fire, which, as a domestic altar, 
always burns before the face of the image of their deified 
ancestor. 
The entrance to the house is by a sliding door (tatau), 
which is formed of a solid slab of wood, about two feet and 
a half high, and a foot and a half wide ; the way of fastening 
it when the owners were absent, was by means of a stick, 
which passed through a loop in the door and crossed the side 
posts ; it could of course be opened by any one, but was 
always regarded as tapu j they were also accustomed to secure 
their doors by complicated knots, when likely to be absent for 
any length of time. On the right side of this is a window, 
( mato/pihi 3 ) generally about ten inches high and two feet 
wide; this also is furnished with a slide, which goes into 
the wall of the building ; another window is placed in the 
roof, a kind of trap-door, termed a jpihanga , or jpuhanga, 
literally gills or lungs, a breathing place, more than an 
aperture for admitting light, which is not required in a 
whare-jpuni at night. On entering, there is a low slab of 
wood on either side, to partition off the sleeping places. 
