In the village an approximate measurement gave thirty feet as the length, nine the breadth, and thirteen the height in centre of one of these huts--the one figured in the accompanying plate; the annexed woodcut gives an end view of another.

All four were built upon exactly the same plan.

The supporting posts are four in number, and raise the floor about four and a half feet from the ground, leaving a clear space beneath.

Before entering the body of the hut each post passes through an oval disc of wood, a foot and a half in diameter, the object of which is probably to prevent the ingress into the dwelling of snakes, rats, or other vermin, most likely the Mus indicus, with which all the islands to the westward are overrun.

To the stout uprights are lashed transverse bars supporting three long parallel timbers running the whole length of the floor; on these seven or eight transverse poles are laid, crossed by about a dozen longitudinal and slighter ones, on which a flooring of long strips of the outer wood of the coconut-tree is laid across.