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more ground is cleard away for each house than is Just sufficient to hinder the Dropping of the branches from rotting the thatch with which they are coverd, so that you step from the house immediately under shade and that the most beautifull imaginable. No countrey can boast such delightfull walks as this, the whole plains where the people live are coverd with groves of Breadfruit and cocoa nut trees without underwood; these are intersected in all directions by the paths which go from one house to the other, so the whole countrey is a shade than which nothing can be more gratefull in a climate where the sun has so powerfull an influence. They are built without walls so that the air coold by the shade of the trees has free access in whatever direction it happens to blow. I shall describe one of the middle size which will give an Idea of all the rest as they differ scarce at all in fashion.
Its lengh was 24 feet, breadth 11, extreem high[t] 8½, hight of the eaves 3½; it consisted of nothing more than a thatchd roof of the same form as in England supported by 3 rows of posts or pillars, one on each side and one in the middle; the floor was coverd some inches deep with soft hay upon which here and there were laid matts for the convenience of setting down; this is almost the only furniture as few houses have more than one stool which is the
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol.1) 344, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-099.html