page 8

General Features

The Samoan family living in a settled community required shelter from sun or rain for the two main purposes of cooking, and ordinary living. The form of cooking in the open earth oven did not encourage the combining of the two needs in the same room. The complicated system of dividing the space under one roof into a number of walled-in rooms had not been considered. The climate did not supply such an incentive. The Samoan idea of combatting the heat prevented the use of permanent walls even around the outer margins of their permanent dwelling houses. Each roof, therefore, covered but one room. Cooking and living were permanently separated into two distinct buildings, the fale umu and the fale o'o. The introduction of benzene tins, pots, kettles and a few stoves has led to a small part of the population doing the cooking of small meals in the dwelling house. On the other hand, people of a more advanced culture have found it advantageous to follow the Polynesian custom of having a separate cooking house.

The cooking house was merely a roof propped up in the air; no provision for side walls or floor were required. The roof was originally propped up in one of two ways, to which was added an adaptation from the dwelling house. This produced three types of cooking houses.

The dwelling house from the very nature of its use required more care and detail. The problem of supporting the roof was met in two ways. Sleeping on the floor demanded that provision should be made against damp and an even surface provided for floor mats. The material requisitioned was not wood but stone. While free circulation of air was obtained by open sides, protection against cold winds and driving rain was provided by wall screens which could be dropped in any part and raised again when the necessity ceased. As the house served as both bedroom and sitting room for the family, it had to be sufficiently commodious to meet these requirements. These houses are all of the one shape, the long rectangular middle portion (itu) with rounded portions (tala) added to either end. The use of various timbers has led to a variety of names being applied but they are included under the type name of fale o'o. Besides superior timber, better material was used for thatch and lashing. In the less elaborate dwelling houses, there were no technical details that were beyond the scope of the householder.

With the development of the social side of life, a further need was created. The head of the family required a place where he could meet the heads of other families to discuss matters of common importance to the family groups in the village. This extended to the meeting of the heads of families or groups of families from other villages united by a common bond. It extended page 9further to the proper reception and housing of visitors from other parts. The dwelling house was used for the ordinary domestic requirements of everyday life To meet further demands, the guest house was created. Its construction was based on that of the fale o'o (a long house with rounded ends). The simplest long house is the canoe shed (afolau). Any house preserving the long character of the part between the ends is referred to as fa'aafolau, after the style of an afolau. Thus the fale o'o, according to the Samoans, is a fale fa'aafolau but fa'a (like, resembling) was dropped and it became fale afolau. The term fale afolau is used as a general descriptive term but through usage, it is specifically applied to the long guest house. To meet the extra demands of accommodation and ceremonial, the fale afolau guest house was built much larger than the ordinary fale o'o dwelling house.

The increasing complexity of ceremonial that developed out of social organization, made further demands on house construction. The guest house was the place where speakers met in fono (council). In the house the Samoans speak, sitting on the ground, and do not change from the position assigned by etiquette. The middle of the rounded ends became the places of highest honor; one for the highest ranking chief of the village, and the other for the similar rank amongst the visitors. In the long house, the two ends were too far apart for convenient hearing. The objection was met by bringing the two rounded ends closer together. This was done by cutting down the length of the middle straight portion (itu) to six or seven feet. In this type of guest house, the side length was reduced to a working minimum and the name of fale afolau was no longer applicable. The sacrifice in length was compensated somewhat by increased width. The height of the roof was increased to meet other requirements that arose so that the house towered up above the others and looked larger. It was thus named fale tele (big house). The approximation of the two ends gave the house a rounder appearance and has led to the term "round house." The term is useful but the roundness was not the feature considered by the Samoans in the application of the term fale tele. The fale tele is the big house and the roundness is accepted but not specified. The idea of greatness is also conveyed in tele from the function of the house.

The greater size and ornamental requirements of the guest houses involved technical details in construction that were beyond the compass of the ordinary individual. By means of split lengths of wood, the householder could cope with the curved purlins of the rounded ends of an ordinary dwelling house. The greater arch of the guest house, however, could be formed only from short curved pieces fitted together. Expert skill was needed. The greater technical details involved led to the development of a craft of builders. Through specialization, a distinct type of building was evolved. To maintain their own status, the chiefs had to have the very best the builders could pro-page 10vide. The builders thus attained great power. They became organized into guilds with rules and regulations that chiefs of the highest status could not afford to disregard. A builders' union came into existence. The individual could build his kitchen and the ordinary dwelling house but guest houses required a contract with highly paid specialists.

In describing the various types of Samoan houses, it is better to follow their natural evolution and work upwards from the simplest forms to the highly organized guest houses.