Lau - Settlements

About 30 of the 100 Lau islands are inhabited. Villages are located along the coast and are often surrounded by coconut palm and breadfruit tree groves. Village land is owned by clans, with each clan controlling a strip of land running from the shore inland to the mountain slopes. Villages often contain dwellings of various sizes, men's houses for each clan, kitchen huts, oven shelters, a garden shed, canoe shelters, ceremonial ground, and a burial ground. Houses are often similar to those on Tonga, raised on an earth mound with substantial wooden posts, walled, and constructed with thatched roofs. Some villages also have a store, reservoir, a mission church, and a temple. On the hills of some islands there are the remains of stone fortresses that have fallen into disuse with the cessation of interisland warfare.