318 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
unusual thing to see upwards of a hundred men at a 
time working on one house. 
A good house, such as they build for the chiefs, will 
keep out the wind and rain, and last from seven to ten 
years. But, in general, they do not last more than 
five years; and those which they are hired to build 
for foreigners, not much more than half that time. 
In less than twelve months after my own grass house 
was built, the rain came through the roof from one 
end to the other, every time there was a heavy 
shower. 
In some of the islands the natives have recently 
covered their houses with mud; this, however, does 
not appear to render them more durable. 
Before they were visited by foreigners, the only tool 
employed in building was a stone adze, formed of a 
kind of basalt, or compact lava; and though they now 
use an axe in felling the trees, the adze is still their 
favourite tool, and many of them use no other. The 
stone adze is, however, exchanged for one made with 
a plane iron, bent, and tied securely to a handle of 
light wood. This they prefer to the European adze, 
which they say is too heavy. Sometimes they use a 
saw, chisel, and gimblet, in framing their houses, but 
they are not yet adepts in the use of these tools; we 
have often seen them throw down the saw, and take up 
their adze to finish that which they had commenced 
cutting with a saw. 
Their habitations, though rude, discover, considering 
their circumstances and means, a greater degree of 
industry, and attention to comfort, than is usually 
manifested by uncivilized nations; and within the last 
few years great improvements have been made in their 
