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The native priest and a few of his connections reside at Hanga Roa, only those in the employ of Mr. Salmon live at Vaihu, and the only settlement on the island that way be termed a village is the one at Mataveri. The primitive buts formerly used by the natives (Fig. 1) have
been abandoned for more comfortable dwellings constructed under the direction of a Danish carpenter out of material obtained from the wreckage of several vessels loaded with Oregon lumber. These buildings are of a style of architecture commonly met with in small cheap barns and stables, but to the simple-minded islanders they supply all the comforts that could be desired.
These houses are usually about 25 feet long and 15 feet wide with undressed weather-boards and roofed with the same material. Hinged doors open in the center and admit light and ventilation, though a few of the more pretentious buildings are furnished with small glazed windows. The floors are of bare earth strewn with a litter of dried grass, filthy and vermin-infested from long use. Mats made of bulrushes are spread out for sleeping; several rough bedsteads and chests were seen, but the majority of the houses are destitute of furniture or ornament. Several families occupy the same dwelling; men, women, and children lie down together like dogs in a kennel, and with about the same ideas of what constitutes the comforts of life.
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