The House Walls, Patiha.

From the wall plates (rape) to the ground, both at the sides and the ends, the walls are called patiha. They are usually made of vertical rods of hibiscus (hau). Sometimes the aerial roots of the pandanus (kaihara) and the cane known as teka are used.

Two or three horizontal poles may be spaced between the corner and side posts, pou turuturu, and the rods are

Figure 36.
Attachment of patiha side wall.

attached closely together to them on the outside by a series of half hitches made with hibiscus bark (kiri hau), Fig. 36. The lower ends are stuck into the ground. The left side of the Figure shows the appearance on the outside, and the right, the inside.

In some cases, a single pair twine without the horizontal pole is run along to keep the rods close together.

The patiha wall is called koro in Raratonga. It lets in plenty of air and is beautifully suited to the climate. On occasions however, a cold wind comes through the wall rather readily, and plaited screens of cocoanut leaf may be hung up against the walls to keep out the draught.