394 
A VOYAGE TO 
1777- judicious manner. The floor is raifed with earth fmoothed, 
w an d covered with ftrong, thick matting, and kept very 
clean. The moft of them are clofed on the weather fide 
(and fome more than two-thirds round), with ftrong mats, 
or with branches of the cocoa-nut tree, plaited or woven 
into each other. Thefe they fix up edgewife, reaching 
from the eaves to the ground; and thus they anfwer the 
purpofe of a wall. A thick, ftrong mat, about two and 
one half or three feet broad, bent into the form of a femi- 
circle, and fet upon its edge, with the ends touching the 
fide of the houfe, in fhape refembling the fender of a fire 
hearth, inclofes a fpace for the mafter and miftrefs of the 
family to fleep in. The lady, indeed, fpends moft of her 
time, during the day, within it. The reft of the family 
fleep upon the floor, wherever they pleafe to lie down; the 
unmarried men and women apart from each other. Or, 
if the family be large, there are fmall huts adjoining, to 
which the fervants retire in the night; fo that privacy is as 
much obferved here, as one could expeCt. They have 
mats made on purpofe for fleeping on; and the clothes 
that they wear in the day, ferve for their covering in the 
night. Their whole furniture conftfts of a bowl or two, 
in which they make kava ; a few gourds ; cocoa-nut fhells; 
fome fmall wooden ftools, which ferve them for pillows; 
and, perhaps, a large ftool for the Chief, or Mafter, of the 
family to fit upon. 
The only probable reafon I can aflign for their neglect of 
ornamental architecture, in the con ft ruCtion of their houfes, 
is their being fond of living much in the open air. Indeed, 
they feem to conflder their houfes, within which they fel- 
dom eat, as of little ufe but to fleep in, and to retire to in 
bad weather. And the lower fort of people, who fpend a 
i great 
