Cooking Houses, hare umu.

The cooking houses at present constituted have usually a rounded end as shown on the left of Fig. 39. The upright wall posts (pou turuturu) are brought round in a curve. From them, radial rafters extend to a cross bar tied to the two end oka. The door is at the opposite end. The thatch is usually of nikau sheets.

On the rounded end, the patiha walls do not extend to the roof, but are high enough to keep out animals and allow the free escape of smoke from the cooking fires. It was at this end that the earth oven or umu was used. A hare umu in Raratonga with an open lean-to part for cooking is shown in Fig. 40.

Within this kitchen, a pahata platform of poles may be constructed upon which to stack taro and other food supplies. There is seldom, however, more than a week's stock kept in reserve.

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