The Outrigger Canoe

We have now to consider the single canoe provided with an out-rigger on one side. There is no evidence to show that the double outrigger was ever used here, nor yet any balancing platform on the opposite side to the outrigger. The outrigger was undoubtedly introduced from Polynesia; indeed, all the single canoes that came hither from the isles of the Pacific must have been provided with this safeguard, to enable them to cross the rough seas encountered in the passage. The outrigger was a swifter sailing-craft than the double canoe, and could probably be paddled quicker. It is also said to be more easily managed during a storm or in a rough sea.

The outrigger was attached to the windward side of a canoe, and this would mean that the craft could not go about in tacking (waihape). Unfortunately, we have no information as to the form of the outrigger craft used by the Maori: presumably they were of the same shape at both ends. An outrigger is called the arna, amatiatia, and korewa by the Maori. The spars connecting it with the canoe are the hokai, but kiato is the common Polynesian term.

When Cook was passing Te Mahia, on the east coast, in his first voyage, some canoes with outriggers were seen, of which Parkinson writes, "Several of the canoes had outriggers; and one of them had a very curious piece of ornamental carving at the head of it."

In describing canoes seen at Queen Charlotte Sound in 1773 Forster says: "Some of the canoes were double that is, two fastened alongside of each other by means of transverse sticks lashed on with

H. Hamilton, photo

page 37ropes: but where that was not the case they had an outrigger, or narrow piece of plank, fixed parallel to one side of the canoe by means of transverse poles, to prevent their oversetting."

Te Whatahoro informs us that, as a lad, he made a short coastal trip in an outrigger canoe: "In the year 1853 a single outrigger canoe was brought from Waimarama down the coast to Te Unuunu, at Flat Point. There were sixteen of us on board, of whom seven were women. I was then about twelve years of age. Three of the elder men on board were Te Waka Tahu-ahi, Pahoro te Tio, and Te Meihana Takihi. I cannot say if that was the last time an outrigger canoe was used in our district or not."

This is the meagre information we get from our early voyagers; it is most disappointing—utterly lacking in detail. Cook and his com-panions, while at Queen Charlotte Sound, had a good opportunity to describe the Maori canoe in detail, but took no advantage of it.

The distribution of the outrigger is a matter of some interest. Its use extended from the eastern outposts of Polynesia right across the Pacific Ocean to India; also it was employed on one part of the east coast of Africa. In no other region was it, apparently, seen by early voyagers and travellers; it was essentially a Pacific and Indian Ocean usage, just touching the south-east shores of Asia, and was apparently an intrusive item on a part of the eastern coast of Africa. The range of the outrigger may yet bear evidence in the question of the origin and movements of the Polynesian race.

In a most interesting paper on "Early Modes of Navigation," Colonel Lane Fox derives both the double canoe and the outrigger canoe from the primitive log raft. Of the process of evolution he says: "In order to diminish the resistance, the obvious remedy was to use only two beams (logs), placed parallel to each other at a distance apart, with a platform, laid on cross-poles, between them." The Tasmanians used an improved raft of this kind, and are said to have made no form of canoe whatever. The Fijians used a similar contri-vance, according to Williams, but also constructed canoes of a very advanced type. "From these two logs were derived the double canoe on the one hand, and the canoe with the outrigger on the other."

This writer also describes an intermediate form from Madras—a raft of three beams or logs lashed together, and provided with an outrigger composed of a log attached by means of outrigger poles to the raft. Both this and the Fijian catamaran appear to be survivals. He goes on to say, "When the art of hollowing out canoes was introduced, then one canoe and one log, or two canoes, were employed, as the case might be. This I consider to be a more natural page 38sequence than to suppose the outrigger invented as a means of steadying the dugout canoe."

It seems not improbable that the outrigger originated in some region of south-eastern Asia or Indonesia. In connection with this subject the following extract from the Journal of the Polynesian Society (vol. 22, p. 24) is of interest. It was written by Mr. S. Percy Smith:—

"Ancient Indian vessels: Just here a word may be said as to the most ancient form of vessel known to the Indians themselves, for, if the Polynesians came from India, as we have suggested, the probability is that the same kind of craft were used by both peoples. A valuable work has lately been published by Radhakumud Mookeji, M.A., of the Calcutta University, entitled Indian Shipping, in which he treats of the trade and voyages made by the ancient Indians from the earliest dates, as derived from old records and from sculptures on old buildings, &c. From the illustrations given in this work it is clear that the earliest vessels of that people were made of planks sewn together with rope just as the canoes of the Polynesians were. The author says at page 47, 'These vessels were built so narrow and top-heavy that it was necessary to fit outriggers for safety. An out-rigger is a series of planks or logs joined to the boat with long poles or spars, as shown in fig. 1.' This, of course, is exactly what the Polynesians do to this day, and have done for as far back as we can trace their forms of vessels. The illustrations of the ancient vessels are in fact just clumsy representations of the Polynesian canoe; and some of these pictures, carved in stone, are said to date as far back as the fourth century before Christ, or about the period that we suppose the Polynesians left India."

It must be borne in mind that the crank little outrigger craft seen at Ceylon, and at many of the isles of the Pacific, used in harbour and longshore work, are very different vessels from the big sea-going outrigger vessels of the Polynesians, such as were employed in their long voyages across the Pacific.

It is evident that the outrigger gradually fell into desuetude in New Zealand. Cook and his companions saw it at two places only, and the early missionaries and settlers in these isles do not mention it at all. Polack, who resided at the Bay of Islands for some years in the "thirties" of last century, and also visited the east coast as far as Tolaga Bay, writes as follows: "Outriggers, invariably made use of by the South-Sea-Islanders, are unknown in New Zealand, and the canoes are never or rarely lashed together; nor are platforms raised over the gunwales, and sheds erected on them, as is the usage of the above nations."