There
Were Neither Doors Nor Windows - Nothing Along The Sides But The
Slight Posts Supporting The Rafters.
Between these posts, curtains of
fine matting and tappa were rustling, all round; some of them were
festooned, or partly withdrawn, so as to admit light and air, and
afford a glimpse now and then of what was going on within.
Pushing aside one of the screens, we entered. The apartment was one
immense hall; the long and lofty ridge-pole fluttering with fringed
matting and tassels, full forty feet from the ground. Lounges of
mats, piled one upon another, extended on either side: while here
and there were slight screens, forming as many recesses, where groups
of natives - all females - were reclining at their evening meal.
As we advanced, these various parties ceased their buzzing, and in
explanation of our appearance among them, listened to a few
cabalistic words from our guide.
The whole scene was a strange one; but what most excited our surprise
was the incongruous assemblage of the most costly objects from all
quarters of the globe. Cheek by jowl, they lay beside the rudest
native articles, without the slightest attempt at order. Superb
writing-desks of rosewood, inlaid with silver and mother-of-pearl;
decanters and goblets of cut glass; embossed volumes of plates; gilded
candelabra; sets of globes and mathematical instruments; the finest
porcelain; richly-mounted sabres and fowling-pieces; laced hats and
sumptuous garments of all sorts, with numerous other matters of
European manufacture, were strewn about among greasy calabashes
half-filled with "poee," rolls of old tappa and matting, paddles and
fish-spears, and the ordinary furniture of a Tahitian dwelling.
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