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House platforms

In all dwelling houses and guest houses, the floor is raised above the level of the surrounding ground surface. This necessitates the building of a raised platform (paepae). Except where the house is built on an old site, the platform and floor are always built after the house is constructed and thatched. The height and extent of the house platform depend on the status of the house. In guest houses, this also depends on the status of the owner. The platform, though built last, came into the master builder's calculations before construction commenced. It has been seen that the main posts of the house were sunk into the ground. The height of the proposed platform had therefore to be added to the height of the main posts. It also affected the level on the rafters to which the wall plates are attached. A completed house that has yet to have a high platform added is a curious sight. It hangs in the air, and emphasizes the peculiarity of Samoan house construction, the somewhat unique principle of hanging the frame from the ridgepole.

The platform material is stone. Exceptions to the stone platform occurred in the uncommon instances where stone material is too difficult to obtain. Such a condition obtains in an old village site on a tableland near Mauase, Savaii. This is on Mr. Anunsen's property some distance back from the coast. The house sites are evidenced by flat earth mounds raised a little above the ground level. A well-preserved circular one is 42 by 40 feet in diameter. Around the circumference are nine hollows evenly spaced showing where earth had been scooped up and thrown inwards to form the raised platform. Between the hollows the earth had been sloped upwards to form pathways to the platform. The platform itself is about 2 feet above the surrounding ground level.

The ground is of red earth, unsuitable for cultivation, and containing little Stone. Such stone as existed was in the form of smaller pieces that had been used to cover the floor, and had evidently been carried to the site. The tableland is the flat surface of a ridge between two streams. As several trenches ran across the ridge, the village may have been a place of retreat for defence. In places that are not of permanent or long continued occupation there is naturally no incentive to carry stone from long distances to build house platforms.

In another village site on the same property, plenty of stone is present in the ground. The house sites here have the usual stone platforms, but they are not high. Numerous trenches also exist.

In some of the present villages, the stone is transported from fair distances, sometimes by canoes to the nearest point on the beach. At Fangamalo in Savaii, the platforms of two church houses were being built during my stay. Working bees of women and men carried the stone in coconut leaf baskets slung on a pole carried over the shoulders of two. Food was pooled by the page 67village and delicacies such as breadfruit taufolo were prepared. Cooperation in such matters is marked by gaiety and laughter, which helps the shoulders to bear the strain. Time is of no commercial value, and days are allotted to the task from time to time to prevent too much interference with ordinary routine. It is surprising what a vast quantity of stone can be transported by primitive methods by a large number of people in a long time. I was in Fangamalo for two months and both platforms were far from completion when I left. However, there was no hurry. One thing is certain: the platforms will be completed at some time.

The platforms vary in extent. Some are confined to the immediate boundaries of the house. These are usually low, consisting of one course of stone (lautasi, lau meaning depth, and tasi, one). The face of the platform is composed of lane even sized stones, but they are not worked in any way. In low platforms, the area outside is covered with smaller stones to form a loose payment. The shape usually conforms to the sides of the house, but not necessarily so. The outer margins are defined by larger stones forming a continuous line.

In the higher platforms, the house part is made first; it is then occupied and the rest of the platform made later. In the large house at Iva, the stone platform was 6 feet, 6 inches in height from the level ground surface. The house which was 45 feet, 6 inches by 54 feet, 8 inches, had been long in occupation. For about a foot external to the wall posts, the house platform had been completed. There were four sloping approaches of stone from the front, back and two sides. The sides of the platform between the approaches were perpendicular. The spaces between approaches had to be built up to the same level to complete the platform. The matter was being kept steadily in view. With the higher platforms, the outer part was built into terraces working outward and downward from the house. The terraces varied in width, but each face was sharply defined with larger stones. The extent of these terraces again depended on the quantity of stone readily accessible.

In Tutuila where the village sites are usually rocky, loose stone pavements are characteristic. In Savaii, where villages are mostly on sandy soil near a beach devoid of rock, loose stone pavements are entirely absent. Even the house platforms are little larger than the area of the house. The outer part consists of narrow steps instead of terraces. In the few Savaiian villages where the ground is rocky; such as, Aopo and Tanga, the stones lying about had been arranged into a loose pavement.

It may, therefore, be stated that the stone platform to form a house floor is regarded as a necessity. The outside extensions of the platform into terraces and loose stone pavements are extra embellishments that depend on having stone on the site. The use of stone alone as filling was present in the platforms page 68seen in construction. It is quite conceivable however that earth faced with stone would be used where stone was not abundant.

The floor was formed by levelling off the upper surface of the platform within the house and covering it with small stones ('ili'ili). Here again the floor covering depended on available material. Broken stone with the edges unworn was used. Where waterworn pebbles of basalt were available from streams or beaches, they were preferred. At Fitiuta in Tau, waterworn stones from a distant stream had been carried to floor some of the houses. Others were floored with coral gravel. The larger coral gravel was picked out on the beach and carried up in baskets. It often took some time to get a sufficient quantity. A Samoan woman picking over the coral gravel might remind one of a woman of a higher culture selecting a carpet. At Fangamelo, Savaii, the rounded lava gravel from a fairly distant sea beach was most in favor. In the inland village of Iliili, Tutuila, where neither coral nor waterworn gravel was available, recourse was had to the stones of the candlenut tree. This was the only village where a vegetable product was used, and it seemed the irony of fate that its name of Iliili should be the same as the word for small stones.

The folklore tale that refers to the uncompleted thatch also mentions a curious form of floor covering.

The tale of the unfinished floor

After the house of Alo-maunanae had been built, his wife Meto desired that it should be floored with lei (whale ivory). Again Alo sought his mother, who, exasperated, said, "Ola ! Se tama'ita'i e tāngi vale." ("Out upon it! This woman cries for the impossible").

The term tăngi is to cry; the a is short—tăngi vale is to cry like a child, but tāngi vale (with the a long) is the crying of an adult for something impracticable or impossible. Hence the saying, "Ua a tāngi vale ua ona o 'oe o Meto." ("You cry for the impossible as if you were Meto").

However, Alo was advised to go to his sister's husband, Tingilau, who dwelt at Faleatai in Upolu. He was asked by Tingilau if he preferred the lei uli (dark lei) or lei tumau (lasting lei). Alo refused both, and he was given the lei fanau (lei which reproduces itself) with instructions to paddle straight for home without turning around. On the voyage across to Savaii, Alo twice heard the sound of the lei as it split and multiplied behind him. Just off Puapua, he heard it again. Curiosity overcame him, he turned to look, whereupon the lei disappeared. Deep down at this spot, white pebbles lying on the bottom of the sea represent the lei fanau that never carpeted the floor of Meto, who cried for the impossible.

Some houses have the wall plates rather higher off the floor level than usual owing to the fact that the floor level has not been built up to the level originally intended. Thus Tufele of Tau held that the walls of his long house were too high, and intended to raise his house platform accordingly. This probably accounts for the wall posts of the Ivan house being 7 feet 10 inches high.

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The stone platform was often added to by chiefs to celebrate a further marriage. As polygamy was in vogue, the extent and number of stone terraces sometimes not always,' indicated the chief's various matrimonial alliances. Each additional one was a delicate compliment to the new wife. The new wife probably took pleasure in gazing at the other stone terraces that hers had made out of date.