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From: Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: 7 Words That Dogs Can Understand (And 4 That No Dog Can)
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2025 17:59:32 +1300
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On 16/03/2025 10:15 p.m., J. J. Lodder wrote:
> Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> wrote:
> 
>> On 16/03/2025 2:19 a.m., J. J. Lodder wrote:
>>> Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 14/03/2025 11:05 p.m., J. J. Lodder wrote:
>>>>> Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 14/03/25 15:28, Ross Clark wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A little crossroads called Tirau (NZ) has a Big Dog (the tourist
>>>>>>> information office) and a couple of Big Sheep (a souvenir shop), all
>>>>>>> in corrugated iron. There's also a Shepherd, but he's not to scale,
>>>>>>> and not in typical NZ costume. (He's in front of a church.)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/tirau-town.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Nicely done.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I visited Fiji I noticed that corrugated iron is a highly valued
>>>>>> construction material. I guess the native wood is unsuitable for
>>>>>> building, and maybe the clay is not the right sort for bricks.
>>>>>
>>>>> Guess they don't have any.
>>>>> You need glaciers for grinding rock to sand and clay.
>>>>
>>>> This can't be right. There is clay suitable for pottery in Fiji and many
>>>> other Pacific islands where there have never been glaciers.
>>>
>>> Mud is probably a more appropriate description.
>>
>> No, it's clay.
>>
>>> I doubt the suitability for good bricks and ceramics.
>>
>> Fine. It wasn't a question about what you'd consider "good", but
>> whether your grand generalization about clay was correct.
>>
>>   > (probably more appropriately called earthenware)
>> "Ceramics", "pottery" and "earthenware" would all be appropriate.
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic
>> https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1766/lapita-pottery
>> https://collections.qm.qld.gov.au/objects/CH37961/pot
>>
>>>>>> Importing timber and bricks would be hellishly expensive, I guess.
>>>>
>>>> They've got timber. Wood and leaves were traditional house-building
>>>> materials, after all.
>>>
>>> Of a kind. Anything better than palm trees?
>> Yes. Your comments suggest you don't know much about this part of the world.
> 
> Isn't knowing that it is all volcanic in origin enough?
> And (sub)tropical.
> As for clay, this is what is commonly understood as 'clay' minerals.
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_mineral>
> Volcanic rock otoh is something different.
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_rock>
> 
>>> AFAIK quality timber needs to be importd.
>>>
>>>> Corrugated-iron houses are built on a timber frame.
>>>> Bricks? Really no point. People who can afford a fancier European-style
>>>> house will move up to concrete (with a corrugated-iron roof).
>>>
>>> Which must be imported in bulk too.
>>> (and be 'hellishly expensive')
>>
>> Less expensive than bricks.
> 
> Certainly. As for quality,
> Cpt. Cook already noted the nothing that grows there
> can serve as replacement spars.
> (something Royal Navy captains were always on the lookout for)
> 
> They did note that New Zealand was much better,
> in that respect,

So young kauri suited Cook better for spars than anything he had seen in 
the islands. Meanwhile, the people who lived there seem to have found 
something from which to make canoes (with masts, outriggers, paddles, etc.).

https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/2213/tongiaki-in-tongatapu-tonga
(This one's by a Dutchman, so you can believe it.)

https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/2212/canoe-of-otahaite

https://theglobalhistorypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/13-1769-tupaia-longhouse-and-canoes-in-tahiti-e1621228487342.jpg

https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/2209/a-fijian-ndrua