Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-03-21
VILLAGE LIFE In Fiji.
HOW THE NATIVES EXIST IN THE
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS,
Ihc Home Iinc of the Fijians-Iu.
tcrior OF tho f>olynesian House
Native OccupatlGn,

o. oi tho f>olynesian House
Native occupatiGha
Beneath the shade of n gr~,vc Will,
giant plumcs hundred feet In nitSoacb
FiJian village clusters near It's strcafii X
running water, where it's taru terrnccs arc
built for convenience in irrigation Mt
tho appointed seasons. A level spot
some hundred feet in length, by fifty
across, is the village green with the
Chiefs house at one end, the bure nj sa.
Or strangers house, ut the other, and on
each side tho abodcs OF the more i'm
portant villagers, and irrcgularly clustered
outside tho houses of those of lesser note
to the number of perhaps hundred,
rarely more. Some of these houses arc
large and some are small, but there il
little differences in their style of archi-
lecture. bank of stones is raised upon
the site of tho proposed dwelling, two or
three feet high, and fnccd at sides and
ends with neatly fitting rocks. Upon
this foundation s raised tho house.
Two grcnt trunks are placed Mt the
middle of the ends and firmly bed,
dcd in the foundations; across these mt
the height OF thirty feet, is laid another
trunk. Parallel with this ridge pole
and distance from it some fifteen feet nro
two cave poles ten fcot above the ground :.
Slim poles arc laid between ridge nnd
caves on each side; these nro lntticod in
with canes, and the foundation for the
thatch is nude; in tho same way the
sides and ends nrc treated, except that
doorsteps and sills aro set up in the mid
die Of the two sides and near the corner
of one of the gable ends. On these hur-
die roofs and walls are laid coconul leaves
ten, twenty, thirty feet long-and the
contiguous leaflets arc woven in basket
mesh. Upon the leaves over nil the
house is placed IL thatch of grass and
| pandanus leaves, foot and moro in
thickness. Thus completed the house
will be dry in even the scvcrcst rains of
the tropics, and secure against tho most
boistcrous gale, for the reason that not
nail or spike had entered its structure,
every joint has been secured with dcflly-
knottcd lashings of sinnct made from the
coir or fibre Of the coconut husll. Such
II house may bend to the storm, but it
never can break or spring alcak. The
only variant from this style of house is
the characteristic dwelling of the mount
nincers, which has short ridge pole
balanced on a very tall central slaft.
Inside the house the floor is covered
thick with leaves and oversprcad with n
layer of the brown fuzz OF the pulu fern,
upon which arc laid mats woven OF stripes
OF rushcs. Tho floor is soft, rs BELTS the
place on which the people spend their
lives, for chairs are unknown, and the
people sit us does tailor on his bench.
All of one end OF tho house for width
Of some twelve feet is raised rs das for
the sleeping place of the family, and this
is hcapcd with many hundreds of fine
mats, which arc in themselves mn evidence
of wealth. In an opposite corner, near
the little door in tho other end, II square
space is left bare for tho household fire,
and there, when a meal is not III process
of cooking, thin wrcaths of light blue
smoke show that the fire is kept smoul-
dcring in cocoanut husks against the time
1t will be again needed. Overhead nrc
hung the domestic crOclkcry made by the
women from II clay rich in iron oxides,
and other nets hold the store of yams and
brcadfruits for cach days needs. Closets
there arc none, and there is little need for
such rcccptacles, for even petty thicvcry
is unknown, but in case of need the
hurdle which lines the walls can easily be
pushed apart and any little treasures
slowed away in the thatch Such houses
are cool and comfortable, and in every
way harmonizc with the conditions Of
those who live in them.
AS soon rs the sun rises the village be-
gins to stir in the morning. The women
go the brook in chattcring crowd and
fill their pots and bamboos with water
for the days supply about the house.
When the last woman hns returned from
this first GRAND of the morning the men
who have been lounging about the houses
| in little groups, sauntcr down the same
path and take the plunge without which
no Fijian would count tho day well be-
gun. After tho bath each rubs himself
we'll down with cOcoanut oil, which
makes the skin sleek and glossy md
forms most efficient protection against
changes of the weather and attacks of
the abundant mosquitoes. BY this time
the women have prepared the breakfast
and all repair to their homes. Breakfast
over, while yet the, chill of dawn is in
N'AS HH shN bhJ WOih DCHIDb. Inc
men whose station in life is to labor take
their sharpcned sticks and go till the
yams, the sweet potatoes and the taro;
others dry the meat of the cocoanut into
the copra,. with which the Government
taxes and the mission assessments must be
paid The children, smartcned up by
careful mothers, troop to school with many
merry laugh and shout and there spend
the next four hours under the care of
the native teacher, learning to read and
write and cipher just like more fully
clothed children in civilization. The
men who do not labor pay their respects
to the chief, and on the appointed days
form the village council for the regulation
of its internal affairs and its relations
with the bull OF the district and the roko
of tho province and with the turaga M
Koyana, who represents to them the