s.[8] In the old days the native houses were flimsy
quadrangular huts constructed of reeds and thatched with plaited
leaflets of the coco-nut palm, which were very pervious to rain; but the
temples and large houses of chiefs were thatched with pandanus leaves.
The doors were always sliding; the threshold was made of a single block
of timber, tastefully carved. There was a sacred and a common
entrance.[9] Like all the Polynesians, the Hervey Islanders before their
discovery were ignorant of the metals. When in a wrecked vessel they
found a bag of Californian gold, they thought it was something good to
eat and proceeded to cook the nuggets in order to make them juicy and
tender.[10]

[6] John Williams, _op. cit._ pp. 175 _sq._

[7] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, pp. 12, 15; _id._,
"Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _Report of the Second Meeting of the
Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at
Melbourne, 1890_, p. 336.

[8] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 332
_sq._, 338.

[9] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16; _id._,
"Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 335 _sq._

[10] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16.

Sec. 3. _Social Life: the Sacred Kings_

The people were divided into tribes or clans, each tracing descent in
the male line from a common ancestor, and each possessing its own lands,
which were inalienable. Exogamy, we are told, was the universal rule in
the olden time; but when a tribe was split up in war, the defeated
portion was treated as an alien tribe. Polygamy was very common, and was
not restricted to chiefs. A man often had two or three sisters to wife
at the same time. Distant cousins sometimes, though rarely, married each
other; but in such cases they had to belong to the same generation; that
is, they must be descended in the same degree, fourth, fifth, or even
more remote, from the common ancestor. If misfortune or disease overtook
couples linked even by so distant a relationship, the elders would
declare that it was brought upon them by the anger of the clan-god. It
was the duty of parents to teach their growing children whom they might
lawfully marry, but their choice was extremely limited. Children as a
rule belonged to the tribe or clan of their father, unless they were
adopted into another. However, parents had it at their option to assign
a child at birth either to the tri