from three to four feet high, and four feet wide; the posts are set in the ground, and are placed about three feet apart; the rafters of the palm tree are set upon a plate, resting on the post; these have a very steep pitch, and support a cocoa-nut log, that forms the peak of the roof; the ends of the peak extend beyond the thatching at each end, and are covered with shells (Cypræa ovula). The thatching is peculiar, being thickest at the eaves; to make the roof they begin at the peak, whence they thatch down with the wild sugar-cane, under which they place fern-leaves. These gradually increase in quantity until they reach to the eaves, which are about two or three feet thick, project some distance over the sides, and are cut off square.

The sides are closed in with small cane, in square wicker-work, and not in diamond-shape, as those of Tonga. Mats are hung before the doors. The mbures are built after the same manner, but the roofs are more peaked; they are generally fifteen or twenty feet square, and about thirty feet high, and have an exceedingly awkward appearance in our eyes. The common houses are oblong, from twenty to thirty feet in length, and fifteen feet high. Some of the best class of buildings, belonging to the chiefs, are exceedingly well and ingeniously built. If a person wishes to build a house, he carries a present of a whale's tooth to the king or chief, and tells him his wish, the size, &c. The king or chief orders the men who are generally employed for such purposes, to prepare the timber, and get all things ready. The direction of the work is given to some one as the chief superintendent, and from one to five hundred men are employed, as may be deemed necessary. The house is finished in ten or fifteen days, and will last about five years without repairs to its thatching. They are, however, generally considered as tenantable for twenty years, or upwards. All the houses have fire-places a little on one side of the centre; these are nothing more than an ash-pit, with a few large stones to build the fire

and place the pots on. The same kind of fire-place is to be found in the mbures, where a fire is kept burning night and day, which they believe the kalou or spirit requires. The houses generally are not divided by partitions, but at each end they are raised about a foot above the centre floor. These elevations are for sleeping, and are covered with layers of mats until they are soft and pleasant to lie on. In sleeping they use a pillow made of a piece of bamboo or other species of wood, about two inches in diameter, with four legs; this is placed immediately under the neck, and is sufficiently high to protect their large head of hair from being disarranged.

From the constant use of this pillow, a scirrhous lump, as large as a goose-egg, is often formed on the nape of the neck. This pillow was undoubtedly brought into use to protect their peculiar fashion of wearing their hair; and from the inquiries made, I found it had been used from time immemorial. Many of these pillows are carved and ornamented, and a chief always travels with his own. The kai-si or common people make themselves temporary ones.

The Feejee canoes are superior to those of the other islands. They are generally built double, and those of the largest size are as much as one hundred feet in length. The two parts of which the double canoe is composed are of different sizes, and are united by beams, on which a platform is laid. The platform is about fifteen feet wide,

FEEJEE CANOE.

and extends two or three feet beyond the sides. The smaller of the two canoes serves as an out-rigger to the other. The bottom of each of the canoes is of a single plank; the sides are fitted to them by dove tailing, and closely united by lashings passed through flanges left on each of the pieces. The joints are closed by the gum of the bread

fruit tree, which is also used for smearing them over. They have generally a depth of hold of about seven feet, and the two ends, for a length of about twenty feet, are decked over to prevent the canoe from shipping seas. Amidships they generally have a small thatched house or cuddy, to protect the crew from the weather, above which is a staging, on which there is space for several people to sit. The frames of the canoes which belong to chiefs are much ornamented with shells.

The sails are so large as to appear out of all proportion to the vessel, and are made of tough yet pliable mats. The mast is about half the length of the canoe, and the yard and boom are usually twice as long as the mast. The mast is stepped on deck in a chock. The figure on the preceding page represents one of these canoes.

The halyards are passed over a crescent on the head of the mast. These are bent on nearly the length of the mast, from the tack of the yard.

The natives are very expert in managing these vessels, and it requires no small skill in beating against the wind to do so. In sailing the canoe, it is always necessary that the out-rigger should be towards the weather side; this is easily effected by proper care; the mode of tacking becomes therefore curious, and is performed by putting the helm up instead of down. When the wind is thus brought aft, the tack of the sail is carried to the other end of the canoe, which now becomes the bow, and the course on the other tack is then pursued. If the out-rigger gets to leeward while the canoe is under sail, some accident always happens, for no kind of vessel is so easily overturned; and yet, when they are properly managed, they will carry sail when it blows heavily, and still preserve almost an upright position: this is effected by the natives going out on the out-rigger, and thus counterbalancing the force of the wind by their weight. The canoes are made of logs hollowed out and built upon, and show a great deal of ingenuity they are capable of making long voyages. The only food they provide themselves with for sea, is said to be yams. Altogether, they have a pretty effect, covered as they are with white shells (Cypræa ovula), and ornamented by white pennants. They use cocoanut shells to preserve their water in, and with a fire and ava-bowl are equipped for sea.

It is the custom for the chief always to hold the end of the sheet; thus it is his task to prevent the danger of upsetting. They steer with an oar having a large blade. In smooth water these canoes sail with great swiftness, but from the weight and force of the sail they are much strained, leaking at times very badly, requiring always one and

sometimes two men to be constantly baling out the water. Notwithstanding al' this, they make very long voyages,-to Tonga, Rotuma, and the Samoan Islands. The canoes are generally built of the vas wood.

The planks are brought into and kept in shape by small ribs, almost exactly as in our mode of boat-building.

The following are the dimensions of a double canoe of the most common size:

Such a canoe will carry conveniently forty or fifty men.

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When a chief requires a house or a canoe to be built, he applies to the head carpenter, whose title is rokola, and whose office is hereditary. He is a person of great consequence, and the workmen constitute a caste, in which the trade is hereditary also. The chief gives the rokola a whale's tooth as a fee, and pays him for the work, not even feeding the workmen, who are paid by the rokola, and provide themselves with food. With great exertion, a canoe may be built in three or four months, but it usually takes as many years.

The principal tool of the carpenters is an adze, which, since the introduction of foreign tools, they make by lashing a plane-iron to a crooked handle, with sennit. They also now use the chisel and knife. For boring holes, they use the long spines of the echina, bones, and, of late, nails. Carving is performed by the teeth of small animals (rats and mice) set in hard wood, much as diamonds are set for glaziers' purposes. Their patience, industry, and perseverance in their occupation are great, and the workmanship excellent, when the imperfection of their tools is considered. They are aware of the superior qualities of our tools, and anxious to possess them. That which they prize most is the American hatchet, which comes nearer in shape to their own instrument than any other. Their knives are made of the outside of a piece of bamboo, which is cut down for the purpose and put into the proper form while green. After it has dried for a time it is charred, which makes it very hard and sharp. It may be fitted for surgical

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operations by charring it a second time, and grinding it down on a smooth stone.

The potters also constitute a separate caste, of which the women only exercise the art, and do no other work. They dig the clay, and carry it in baskets to the village, where they knead and temper it with sand to the proper degree of tenacity. Their tools are very simple, namely: a flat mallet (tala); a small round flat stone (vatu); and a circular cushion made of cocoa-nut leaves.

A lump of the tempered clay is first taken, which is fashioned somewhat into the shape of the part of the vessel the workwoman desires to form; the stone then being introduced in the inside, the mallet or spatula is used on the outside with the left hand. The different parts are all fashioned or made separately, and afterwards joined. The joints are very neatly closed and finished, so much so as to escape detection. The strokes with the mallet are exceedingly hard at first, but as the vessel approaches the intended shape they become more gentle, and the finish is given by smooth pressing. Many of the vessels are extremely graceful in shape, and must require a very true eye to form the various parts so as to fit. The figures or tracings that are seen upon them are executed by young girls with the fibres of a cocoanut leaf. The pots are baked before an open fire, after which the glazing, or rather, varnish is put on, consisting of the resin of a species of pine (resembling the Kaurie pine of New Zealana), called makandi, mixed with a decoction of the mangrove bark.