HOUSES. 
387 
interesting in it. He will, perhaps, only view it as being a 
dark smoky hovel; but when he becomes acquainted with 
native customs, and observes the order and arrangement 
displayed, the careful way it is constructed, and how perfectly 
the object aimed at is attained, he will not withhold its meed 
of praise. 
The principal houses are called ware-puni, or warm houses ; 
this name may be given either from the number of persons 
generally residing in them, or from their being so built as to ex¬ 
clude the external air. The ware-puni is generally sunk one or 
two feet in the earth, and nearly always fronts the sun. The 
sides (pou) are seldom more than four feet high, being 
formed of large broad slabs of totara, the most durable pine, 
having a small circular groove or opening cut into the top to 
receive the rafters, (heke.) These slabs are either adzed, and 
painted with red ochre; or, if it be a very superior house, 
each one is grotesquely carved to represent some ancestor of 
the family, in which case they become a kind of substitute 
for 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 a pattern, 
this is called arapaki. There is also a skirting board painted 
red; and the rafters, which are either carved or painted in 
various patterns with different colored ochres, rest on a ridge 
pole, (tahuhu,) in which a notch is cut to receive them. This 
ridge pole is always the entire length of the building, including 
that of the verandah as well, being generally of a triangular 
shape, and very heavy; it is supported by a post or pillar 
(pou-taliu), in the middle of the house, the bottom of which 
is carved in the form of a human figure, which represents the 
founder of the family—and is thus a kind of lares. Immedi¬ 
ately before the face of this figure is the fire place, a small 
pit formed by four slab stones sunk into the ground. Perhaps 
there 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. 
c c 2 
