ERECTION OF BUILDINGS. 
27 5 
split or sawn by the natives; the windows in the 
bed-rooms, sitting-rooms, study, and printing- 
house, were glazed ; and, what was a new and 
strange thing to the natives, our kitchen, in which 
was a stone oven, fire-place, and chimney, was 
included under the same roof. 
Cooking-houses were usually detached from the 
dwellings of the chiefs and foreigners, but we 
attached it to our house, that Mrs. Ellis might 
avoid exposure to the sun, and heat of the middle 
of the day, whenever it might be necessary to 
superintend the dressing of our food. The par¬ 
titions separating the different apartments were 
framed, wattled with thin sticks, and plastered ; 
and although we found the labour of building 
oppressive, we were amply compensated by the 
comfort we subsequently enjoyed. The house was 
finished early in 1819, became our residence 
shortly afterwards, and continued so until we em¬ 
barked for the Sandwich Islands. 
Building houses, and avocations of a similar 
kind, were regarded as secondary objects; our 
main efforts were directed to the acquisition of the 
language. Whatever besides we had been able to 
do, we considered ourselves wholly inefficient, 
until we were capable of delivering our message to 
the inhabitants in their own tongue. We had 
many difficulties to encounter, and were obliged to 
pick up the greater part of the language from the 
natives, who, unacquainted with our speech, could 
only explain to us the meaning of words and phrases 
by their own: thus their explanations often increased 
our perplexity. My intimate acquaintance with all 
that had been printed, afforded me great facility 
in prosecuting the study of Tahitian. In less than 
a year, I was able to converse with the people on 
t 2 
