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ARTS AND MANUFACTURES

ground, being raised about a foot, is beatendown hard, and covered with leaves of thecocoa-nut tree, dried grass, or leaves of the ifitree: over this is laid a bleached matting,made of the young leaves of the cocoa-nut tree.The house consists, as it were, but of oneapartment, but which is subdivided occasionallyby screens about six or eight feet high. Incase of rain, or at night, if the weather is cool,they let down a sort of blind, which is attachedto the eaves of the open sides of the house :these blinds are made of long mats, about sixinches in width, one above another, and ratheroverlapping, and are so contrived as to draw upby means of strings, like our Venetian blinds,and are then concealed just within the eaves.The common houses have not these blinds, but,in place of them, a few mats hung up as occa-sion may require.

Ta tattow, striking the tattow. Thisoperation has already been described in the lastchapter, and nothing farther is here to be said,except that Tooitonga is never tattowed at theTonga islands ; for it is not considered respect-ful to put so high a chief to so much pain, andif, therefore, he wishes to undergo this opera-tion, he must visit Hamoa, (the Navigator’sislands), for that purpose.

Tongi aco'w, club carving or engraving.