IMPROVED BUILDINGS. 345 
These two houses were not only the first in the 
Leeward group, but they were the first of the kind 
ever erected, for their own abode, by any of the 
natives of the South Sea Islands. 
The success of these individuals encouraged 
others, although we found great difficulty in per¬ 
suading them to persevere in the labour this im¬ 
provement required, particularly as they were now 
employed in the erection of a spacious chapel, 
and the frames of our dwellings. It was no 
easy task for them to build houses of this kind ; 
there were no regular carpenters and masons. 
Every man had, in the first place, to go to the 
woods or the mountains, and cut down trees for 
timber, shape them into posts, &c. and remove 
them to the spot where his house was to be 
built, then to erect the frame, with the doorway 
and windows. This being done, he must again 
repair to the woods for long branches of hibiscus 
for rafters, with which he framed the roof. 
The leaves of the pandanus were next gathered, 
and soaked, and sewed on reeds, with which the 
roof was thatched. This formerly would have 
completed his dwelling, but he now had to collect, 
with great labour, a large pile of firewood, to dig 
a pit, to dive into the sea for coral rock, to burn it, 
to mix it with sand so as to form mortar, wattle 
the walls and partitions of his house, and plaster 
them with lime. He then had to ascend the 
mountains again, for trees, which he must either 
split or saw into boards for flooring his apartments, 
manufacturing doors, windows, shutters, &c. This 
was certainly a great addition of labour; and 
hence many occupy their cottages as soon as they 
have finished the roof, the walls, and the door- 
levelling the ground for the floor, and spreading 
