ported by polls and rafters, difpofed in a very judicious
manner. The floor is raifed with earth fmoothed, and covered
with ftrong, thick matting, and kept very clean. The
moil 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 o f a femicircle, and fet upon
its edge, with the ends touching the fide of the houfe, in
fhape refembiing the fender of a fire hearth, inclofes a fpace
for the mailer and miftrefs of, the family to Ileep in. The
lady, indeed, fpends moil of her time, during the day, within
it. The reil of the family ileep 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 ex-
petit. They have mats made on purpofe for fleeping on I
and the clothes that they wear in the day, ferve for their
covering in the night. Their whole furniture confifts of a
bowl or two, in which they make kavay a few gourds£
cocoa-nut ihells ; fome fmall wooden ffools, which ferve
them for pillows ; and, perhaps, a large ftool for the Chief,
or Mailer, of the family to fit upon.
The only probable reafon-1 can aflign for their negleft of
ornamental archite&ure, in the conftrudtion of their houfes,
is their being fond of living much in the open air. Indeed,
they feem to confider their houfes, within which they feldom
eat, as of little ufe but to ileep in, and to retire to in bad
weather. And the lower fort of people, who fpend a great
part
part of their time in clofe attendance upon the Chiefs, *777.
can have little ufe for their own houfes, but in the lait v -•
cafe.
They make amends for the defeits of their houfes, by
their great attention to, and dexterity in, naval architecture,
if I may be allowed to give it that name. But I refer to the
narrative of my lait voyage, for an account of their canoes,
and their manner of building and navigating them.*
The only tools which they ufe, to conilruit thefe boats, are
hatchets, or rather thick adzes, of a fmooth black itone that
abounds at Toofoa; augres, made of ihark’s teeth, fixed on
fmall handles ; and rafps, of a rough ikin of a fiih, failened
on flat pieces of wood, thinner on one fide, which alfo have
handles. The labour and time employed in finiihing their
canoes, which- are the moil perfect of their mechanical
productions, will account-for their being very careful of
them. For they are built and preferved under fheds ; or
they cover the decked part of them with cocoa-leaves, when
they are hauled on fliore, to prevent their being hurt by
the fun.
The fame tools are all they have for other works ; if we
except different ihells, which they ufe as knives. But there
are few of their productions that require thefe, unlefs it be
fome of-their weapons ; the other articles being chiefly their
fifhing materials, and cordage.
The cordage is made from the fibres of the cocoa-nut
huile, which, though not more than nine or, ten inches long,
they plait, about the fize of a,quill, or lefs, to any length
* Cook’s Voyage, .Vol. .i. p. 2 i5, 216. The reader, By corngaringctkat 'account,
with what Cantova fays of the fca-boats' of the Caroline I (lands, will find, in this
inftahce, alfo, the greaceft fim.ihricy.' See Lettrcs Edijiantu cT p. 286.
3 E 2 that