Types and methods of construction

The cooking house (fale umu) is the house (fale) which shelters the earth oven (umu). It is also referred to as umu, piato, and in chief's language, tunoa. It is usually situated a little to the rear of the dwelling house and is used only for actual cooking and the storing of small quantities of uncooked food. As they served no aesthetic purpose, fale umu are roughly built. There are three methods of supporting the roof:

(1.) The method of constructing a canoe shed (to fa'asoata) was used in the poorest type of cooking house. A to fa'asoata seen at Saua, Tau Island, differed in no way from the canoe shed described except that it was shorter and a little higher. The type has gone out of general use, and is only built for temporary use but it was definitely described by informants as one of the two original types of cooking house. Saua, though figuring in song and story, is now used as a fishing camp. It is remarkable that the one such house I saw should have been in one of the earliest villages recorded in association with Tangaloa-ui and the early peopling of the Manuan group of islands.

(2.) The second original type of cooking house is the to sunu'i. The term sunu'i (to thrust into the ground) refers, in connection with building, to an upright post which directly supports the ridgepole. The canoe house from which the to fa'asoata type was directly derived could not admit of vertical struts in the middle line. In the cooking house, the objection to the direct form of support vanishes, and the to sunu'i method of construction comes naturally into operation.

The to sunu'i consists of a middle rectangular section and two rounded ends. The middle section, constructed first (fig. 3), consists of two supporting posts (pou tu) that page 14carry the ridgepole and wall posts (usually three on either side) that carry the wall plates. Three pairs of rafters (matua) are next placed in position and across them two or three horizontal purlins and an upper ridgepole ('au'au lunga) is placed in the forks made by the upper ends of the rafters. Thatch rafters ('aso) are laid over the purlins, their upper ends first thrust through under the upper ridgepole and an eave batten is attached to the outer side of the lower ends of the thatch rafters. A thatch of plaited coconut leaves completes the building.

The natural poles used are shaped only at the wall posts, where a notch may be cut for receiving the wall plate. The woodwork is lashed together with fau bast.

(3.) The term utupoto refers to the use of a tie beam in supporting the ridgepole prop, and was not included in the two original types of cooking house. The method has been adopted from the more advanced construction of the dwelling house, and utupoto has become the commonest form of cooking house. Lalolangi of Fitiuta while maintaining that the to fa'asoata and the to sunu'i were the two original forms, referred to his own cooking house as a to fa'asoata. In it, tie beams were used. The term fa'asoata has become page 15loosely applied to the tie beam type to distinguish it from the type with the middle supporting posts, or to sunu'i. In the to sunu'i one of the supporting posts is close to the fireplace. To provide more space for the activities around the fire, the offending post was replaced by using the tie beam construction in preference to the curved rafters or true fa'asoata. The use of the tie beam in cooking houses is a backward displacement from a more advanced stage in technique. The simple form used in the cooking house indicates the stages through which the dwelling house passed in its evolution to its present form. The ground plan of the Fitiuta cooking house is shown in figure 4 and the elements of the frame of the middle rectangular section in figure 5. (See also Plate I, A.)

Across the upper ends of the two pairs of supporting posts (pou tu) two transverse tie beams project slightly outward and longitudinal beams (tatao) are laid above their ends. From the middle of the transverse tie beams are erected short vertical king posts (pou 'au'au; props for the ridgepole) kept in position by temporary diagonal struts lashed to the tie beams. To the upper ends of the king posts is lashed the main ridgepole (au'au). Three wall posts are erected and wall plates lashed to the outer side of their upper ends. The position of the wall posts is guided by the fact that the three pairs of rafters must rest on the ridgepole and tatao. The longitudinal beam (tatao) is a horizontal element to strengthen the roof framework. It is lashed to the ends of the tie beams and rafters are lashed to it. It acts as a purlin—the first to appear on the inner side of the rafters. For convenience it is here referred to as the tie beam purlin.

Two other purlins are attached to the outer side of the rafters. The upper ridgepole is held in the forks formed by the crossed ends of the rafter pairs. The thatch rafters are slender rods ('aso) laid over the horizontal elements of the frame. To them the eave batten is attached.

While thatching the middle section of a house of the to sunu'i or utupoto type, the framework of one of the rounded ends (tala) proceeds.

An end wall post in the middle longitudinal line of the rectangular section of the house and intermediate wall posts on either side are erected to form a curve. A long pole is tied at its middle to the end post bent round the outside of the intermediate wall posts and tied to the two end wall posts of the middle section to form a curved wall plate or curb plate (fau lalo). The green wood readily takes the curve when the end post is page 16not too far out but in some houses, two poles were used and the ends overlapped. Three pairs of end rafters are stretched between the side rafters and the curb plate. The first and longest pair is on either side of the middle line and above the level where the highest side purlins cross the side rafter; the second pair cross the side rafter at the level of the second purlin, and the third pair cross at the level of the tie beam purlin. The upper ends are lashed to the side rafters, the lower ends are spaced about equally on the curb plate and lashed to it.

To brace the rafters together a curved pole that functions as a purlin is introduced. It passes on the outer side of the rafters, is tied approximately to their middle, and its ends rest on the curb plate at its junction with the side wall posts. It is thus not only curved but runs obliquely upwards to the middle line from either side. Curved purlins in the tala end are termed fau, and one occupying a middle position (fig. 6, 12) is distinguished as fau tu. The curved purlin is in one piece, but in order to more readily take the curve, the pole is thinned by splitting off a section on either side. Such a purlin is termed a fau sasae (sasae: to tear or split off). The fau sasae of the cooking house is important as it formed the precursor of the very elaborate curved purlins used in guest houses.

The curved purlin not only braces the end rafters but it supports the thatch rafters which are tied to it as well as to the side rafters and wall plates (fig. 6a, 13). It thus prevents these slender rods from sagging between the side rafters and the curb plate, and hence performs a function similar to the straight purlins of the middle section. Beginning at the middle line the thatch rafters are attached more closely together. To their lower ends is attached the eave batten. Figure 6b shows that the roof slope of the tala is straight between the side rafters and the curb plate.

The other end section is constructed in the same way. The roof is thatched over with plaited coconut leaves, the curved ends presenting no technical difficulties. The floor is not paved unless low lying ground necessitates it for the rainy season. In some stony regions, such as Fitiuta, terraces on the inland side of the village are built up with stone on the downward sloping side of the hill. Stonework is here a necessity and not of such cultural signficance as where the stone has to be transported some distance. Though exact measurements are given in the ground plan, their irregularity illustrates the fact that approximations by eye were used and no checking of distances by measuring with a cord. A few inches here or there caused no difficulties in construction. The type of building was not worth any extra trouble.