342 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
selves, and the chiefs to partition bed-rooms in 
their present dwellings, in which they must reside 
while building others ; even in these we recom¬ 
mended them to reduce the number of their in¬ 
mates, and to erect distinct sleeping rooms for 
those they retained. 
We were happy to perceive on their part a 
willingness to follow our advice. The first native 
improvement was made by Mai, the chief of Bora- 
bora, residing at that time at Fare in Huahine; 
and we believe this was at the request of his 
daughter. He directed his servants to clear out 
all the grass from the floor of the house he occu¬ 
pied ; they then levelled the earth, procured lime, 
and plastered it over nearly an inch thick with 
mortar * this hardened, and formed an excellent, 
solid, durable, and clean floor. With this ma¬ 
terial we had made the floors of our own temporary 
dwellings, in which we had erected slight partitions 
of poles, covered with thick native cloth, to se¬ 
parate the different apartments from each other. 
In this also we soon perceived the chiefs promptly 
following our example. At the same time we 
commenced the erection of permanent places of 
residence for ourselves, and spared no pains to 
induce the people to do the same. Our first effort 
was to build a lime-kiln, on which we bestowed 
considerable labour, though it did not ultimately 
answer. The natives prepared their lime by burn¬ 
ing it in a large pit, in a manner resembling that 
in which they had prepared their ovens for opio. 
This was done with greater facility than they could 
burn it in the kiln they had built, though with less 
economy in fuel. 
Specimens of fibrous limestone, and small frag¬ 
ments of calcarious rock, have been occasionally 
