354  POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
among the natives of the Leeward Islands, and 
multitudes came on purpose to see it. It was 
built with care, and, considering it as a specimen 
of native workmanship, was highly creditable to 
their industry, perseverance, and ingenuity. Many 
of the natives, especially those who have been 
native house-builders, are tolerably good car- 
penters, and handle tools with facility. They 
have also been taught to saw trees into a number of 
boards, instead of splitting them into two planks, 
which was their former practice. 
The stone in the northern parts of the island is 
a kind of compact ancient lava, and, though rather 
hard, is, we think, adapted for buildings. We 
were desirous to induce some of the chiefs to at- 
tempt the erection of a stone house; but they had 
no proper tools for preparing the stone, and the 
labour was also greater than in their present state 
of civilization they were disposed to undertake. 
It is not, however, improbable that stone buildings 
will ultimately supersede the neat, yet, compared 
with those erected of less perishable materials, 
temporary dwellings they are now occupying. The 
coral rock is also more durable than the plaster; 
and although soft, and easily hewn when first 
taken out of the sea, it afterwards assumes a 
degree of hardness which resists the weather 
for a long series of years. A chapel has been 
built with this material in the island of Eimeo, 
and it will probably last longer than any other 
yet erected. 
When we arrived in Eimeo, Messrs. Hayward 
and Bicknell were residing in boarded dwellings 
with chambers, and Mr. Nott in a house, the walls 
of which were neatly plastered. The earth in 
some parts of the islands would probably answer 
