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The Maori Canoe

Canoes of Pelew Islands

page 375

Canoes of Pelew Islands

In his Account of the Pelew Islands, Captain H. Wilson writes as follows: "They were, like most other canoes, made from the trunk of a tree dubbed out, but our people, who had often seen vessels of this sort in many other countries, thought those of Pelew surpassed in neatness and beauty any they had ever met with elsewhere…. They were painted red both within and without, and inlaid with shells in different forms. When they went out in state, the heads and sterns were adorned with a variety of shells strung on a cord, and hung in festoons. The smallest vessel that they built could hold four or five people, the largest were able to contain from twenty-five to thirty. They carried an outrigger, but only on one side, and used latine sails made of matting." This writer speaks of seeing a fleet of upwards of three hundred of these canoes, which "formed a most beautiful and splendid appearance."