BUILDING FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP. 357 
that rise immediately behind the bay, and form the 
connecting link between the rocks around the 
beach and the high mountains of the interior. 
A settlement thus formed could never possess 
any approximation to uniformity; yet it frequently 
seemed to us as if the variety in size and shape 
among the buildings, and the irregularity of their 
situation, were in perfect keeping with the wild, 
untrained luxuriant loveliness, and romantic ap- 
pearance, of the rocks, the hills, the mountains, 
the valleys, and every other natural object by 
which the rising settlement was surrounded. 
The chiefs vied with each other in the size, 
elevation, or conveniences of their houses: some 
being, like Pohuetea’s and Teriitaria’s, built upon 
a pier in the sea; others preparing to attach 
verandas, by which they could remain cool under a 
meridian sun; others erected rude covered bal- 
conies, in which they might enjoy a more extended 
prospect, be shaded from the sun, and breathe 
purer air. The rustic palm-leaf thatch, and beau- 
tifully white plastered walls, of all the buildings, 
whether standing on the sea-beach, on the moun- 
tain’s side, embowered under the bread-fruit and 
cocoa-nut grove, or situated in the midst of their 
plantations, with a walk strewed with fragments of 
coral and shells leading from the road to the door, 
appeared in delightful contrast with the thick dark 
foliage of the trees, the perpetual luxuriance of 
vegetation, and the variegated blossoms of the 
native flowers. 
The duration of the buildings was in general 
according to the nature of the thatch; the same 
house frequently received two or three new roofs, 
and if the frame was well put together, and the 
timber seasoned, a plastered cottage would pro- 
