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The Queen Pomare's house, Matu uta, Tahiti


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Abstract

A settlement, with buildings in some detail, vegetation, and human figures.

Description

Drawing. The sky contains indistinct indications of a few clouds in the centre and right of the picture; the sun is shining from the right and slightly towards the viewer. The annotation in the top left reads: "ito trees", written within the crowns of a line of three or four many-stemmed sparsely branching and sparsely foliated tall trees. On the rightmost `ito tree' in the centre of the picture, some net storage bags are hanging low on the trunks, and to the right of its base, a pile of coconuts or other spherical items lies on the ground. The trees emerge from between two buildings, the smaller left-hand one having a thatched pitched roof which extends in parts to ground level. The walls show some indications of diagonal timber wallboards, but are mostly obscured by a small palm-like shrub, below which there are three broadly spherical storage vessels to the left of a very small shrub. The second building is very substantial and more ornate. It occupies the centre left to the centre right of the picture. Its pitched roof is constructed of battens and thatch, some of which hangs over at the eave-ends and from the gable inclines. The wall on the left-hand aspect shows indications of upright timber wallboarding, while that on the right-hand aspect contains a doorway of approximately 3m in the middle beneath the apex of the roof, and is composed of diagonal matting somewhat following the pitches of the roof. Two human figures are about to enter through the door. To the right of this building, small leafy trees fill the space towards the edge of picture. The foreground is relatively smooth and even; on the left a seated figure in a broad rimmed hat faces the viewer.

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