'By our bedside had already been placed some ripe fruits; and our hats were crowned with chaplets of the fresh blossom of the _nono_ or flower-tree (_Morinda citrifolia_), which the women had gathered in the freshness of the morning dew.

On looking round the apartment, though it contained several beds, we found no partition, curtain, or screens; they had not yet been considered necessary.

So far, indeed, from concealment being thought of, when we were about to get up, the women, anxious to show their attention, assembled to wish us good morning, and to inquire in what way they could best contribute to our comforts, and to present us with some little gift, which the produce of the island afforded.

Many persons would have felt awkward at rising and dressing before so many pretty black-eyed damsels, assembled in the centre of a spacious room; but by a little habit we overcame this embarrassment, and from the benefit of their services in fetching water as we required it, and in substituting clean linen for such as we pulled off.' Their cottages are spacious, and strongly built of wood, in an oblong form, and thatched with the leaves of the palm-tree bent round the stem of a branch from the same, and laced horizontally to rafters, so placed as to give a proper pitch to the roof.

An upper story is appropriated to sleeping, and has four beds, one in each angle of the room, and large enough for three or four persons to sleep on.