PORTER’S JOURNAL. 43 
met with, our astonishment is raised to the highest, that a people 
in a state of nature, unassisted by any of those artificial means 
which so much assist and facilitate the labour of the civilized man, 
could have conceived and executed a work which, to every be¬ 
holder, must appear stupendous. These piles are raised with 
views to magnificence alone; there does not appear to be the 
slightest utility attending them: the houses situated on them are 
unoccupied, except during the period of feasting, and they appear 
to belong to a public, without the whole efforts of which, they 
could not have been raised, and with every exertion that could 
■ possibly have been made, years must have been requisite for the 
completion of them. 
These public houses differ not much from the houses be¬ 
longing to individuals except in the degree of elegance with 
which they are finished. Those which I have now in view to de¬ 
scribe are situated round a public square, high up the valley of 
the Havvouhs and are sixteen in number. Four large pillars, 
neatly formed of the bread-fruit tree, are planted in the ground, 
extending to the height of twenty feet above the surface; in 
the upper end is a crutch for the reception of a long and slender 
cocqa-nut tree, which is neatly polished: this forms the ridge-pole 
of the houses, and is the chief support of the structure. From 
this ridge-pole, with the lower ends inclining out about five feet, 
are placed bamboos, of equal sizes, at the distance of two or three 
inches asunder, with the lower ends planted in the ground; and to 
give them additional stability they are neatly and firmly secured 
by turns of different coloured sinnet to the well polished trunk of 
a cocoa-nut tree: across this row of bamboos is lashed, 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 answers 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 surface, having also a crutch for the reception of a cocoa-nut 
tree, or sometimes a piece of hewn timber neatly fashioned 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 
V@L. II. 
