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The Material Culture of the Cook Islands (Aitutaki)

[section]

Timber. The best timber for making canoes throughout the Cook Group was the tamanu. The tamanu was previously very plentiful in Aitutaki, but it is becoming scarce. It is now difficult to obtain a tree with a straight length of trunk suitable for the whole hull of a canoe. Growing trees had the bark cut and slashed with the idea of allowing the tree to grow in girth. This usage still holds, as the author saw two trees that had been so treated.

The puka is also used for the hull when tamanu is not procurable. Lengths of puka, roughly shaped externally, are even now sent over to Mangaia from Rarotonga. The introduced vi or mango tree is also used for the hull. The timber used for the various parts beyond the hull will be mentioned with them.

Figure 223.The Single Outrigger Canoe.

Figure 223.
The Single Outrigger Canoe.

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Parts of a canoe. The general name for a canoe is vaka. The single outrigger canoe receives qualifying names according as the hull is formed from one, two or three pieces of timber. The canoe may be divided into the hull and the outrigger. Directly connected with the hull, takere, are the top boards, oa or tango, covering boards at bow and stern poki or papahura, and the thwarts or seats, nohoanga. See Fig. 223.

The outrigger consists of the float, ama, connecting booms with the canoe, kiato, and the connecting pegs between the booms and the float, patiatia, see Fig. 224.

Figure 224.Parts of Outrigger Canoe.

Figure 224.
Parts of Outrigger Canoe.

a, aumihi vaka; b, muri vaka; c, poki or papahura; d, kiato; e, ama; f, nohoaga or papatira; g, rakau taomi ama; h, riu; i, oa or tango; j, patiatia..

The hull, takere. The inner hollowed-out part of the hull is called the riu. The term takere, besides meaning the hull generally, is also particularly applied to the outer under part of the canoe. The riu is narrow and deep in proportion to the trunk of the tree secured. The sides rise perpendicularly, or may even be slightly concave inwards towards the upper edge. In the present day canoe the hull comes to a point at the bow and the stern. In the olden days, according to Tutere of Vaipae, the stern was square in the upper part, but the lines came together to form a sharp line on and below the water line.

Canoes were divided according as to whether the hull was in one, two, or three pieces. The sections were called patonga.

(1.)One-section hull, vaka tavai.

These are small canoes in one piece. The bow is called the aumihi vaka, and the stern the muri vaka.

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(2.)Two-section hull, vaka tutaki tumu.

The hull is composed of two sections, which are joined. The terms applied to the bow and stern of the one-section canoe are also extended to the sections of the hull in the two-piece canoe. Thus the forward section, from the bow to the join, is the aumihi, and the aft section, from the join to the stern, is the muri vaka. The canoe obtains its qualifying name from tumu, trunk of a tree, and tutaki, to meet or join. Vaka tutaki tumu is the canoe with a joined hull. It must be understood that there is only one join implied in this term.

(3.)Three-section hull, vaka tamoe.

The hull consists of three sections, e toru potonga, and two joins. The bow and stern sections have the same names as in the preceding type. The middle piece is the extra section, and is called the moe. From this middle piece the canoe takes its name. Ta is a causative prefix, and vaka tamoe is the canoe made with a moe, or middle section.

The join of the hull, pōtu. The join of the hull pieces is called pōtu. It is a straight join where the two pieces are fitted together in a transverse vertical plane. There is no attempt at dovetailing. The join thus resembles the simpler of the two Maori joins known as the haumi tuporo. After fitting the edges of the cross sections together, holes, puta, are made through the sections, opposite each other. The Aitutaki people could give no information regarding a drill. They said, "Ka hakavera te pohatu, kau taunt ki te puta"— "A stone was heated and placed in the hole." The hole was cut with the smaller adzes, or chisels, and the depth continued by burning. The holes were bored straight through, at right angles to the plane of the hull section. In these canoes the hull was not very thick.

Figure 225.Temporary Lashing of Join.

Figure 225.
Temporary Lashing of Join.

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When the two rows of holes were completed, the ends were placed together and temporarily lashed into position with strips of hibiscus bast. One strip was crossed between a pair of holes on either side and knotted, Fig. 225A. If the lashing had not been drawn tight enough by hand, a wedge made from the aerial rootlet of the pandanus, kaihara, was driven under the tie to tighten it up, Fig. 225B.

For the permanent lashing, three-ply sinnet braid, kaha, was used. To draw the lashing tight, a forked stick of iron wood, called a keke, was used. One temporary tie was removed. This only affected two holes on either side, and therefore did not disturb the relative position of the two parts of the hull. There were two workers, one attending to the inner side of the hull, and the other to the outer. The sinnet braid was run transversely across the join between a pair of holes, first on the outside and then back on the inside, again on the outside, and then diagonally down on the inside to the next pair of holes. Thus on the outside the lashing passes transversely twice between each pair of holes, Fig. 226A, whilst on the inside it passes once transversely between each pair of holes, and then diagonally across the join to the next pair, Fig. 226B.

Figure 226.Permanent Lashing of Join.

Figure 226.
Permanent Lashing of Join.

A-Outside. B—Inside.

To tighten up the turns the keke implement was laid fairly flat against the hull, with the two legs on the section of the hull opposite to that with the hole from which the sinnet braid issued. The sinnet braid was passed through the fork of the keke and a couple of turns taken round the handle. There is no need of a knot, as the hand held the turns on the handle and prevented slipping. The two legs were braced against the hull and a direct leverage obtained by pulling the handle directly away from the hull, Fig. 227.

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Figure 227.Use of keke implement to tighten lashing.

Figure 227.
Use of keke implement to tighten lashing.

When the lashing was sufficiently taut, the assistant drove a caulking implement into the hole to hold the lashing until the next pair of holes was dealt with. The caulking implement was a straight piece of iron wood with a blunt point. When the sinnet was passed through the next pair of holes and the end attached to the kere, the caulking implement was removed and the lashing drawn taut, as described.

The sections having been lashed together, hahau, the holes were caulked.

The two-and three-section canoes were necessitated by the length of the timber available. Where a large canoe was required and the sections of tree trunk available were not long enough, then sections had to be joined. With the scarcity of good timber at the present time, even small canoes are joined from short sections. A large number of the canoes on the beach at Aitutaki were joined. In nearly all of them, however, the join was a modern one. A long raised piece of wood is left along the transverse edge of each section at the bottom. Copper bolts are put through, and, on being screwed up securely, keep the two sections together.

Patches on the hull, ō. Even a good-looking section of tree suitable for a canoe hull sometimes has a flaw. Rather than waste the timber, the flaw part was cut out and patches neatly fitted in. They were attached with sinnet lashings passed through holes bored near the edge, as in the hull join. These patches were termed ō.

The Hold, riu. In hollowing out the hull, knots near the bottom or sides were left as protuberances. They did not do any harm on the inside. It was considered dangerous to cut them off level, lest they broke out and left depressions that might weaken the hull.

In twenty canoes examined on the beach at Arutanga, and varying in length from 13ft. 7in. to 28ft. 10in., the page 262greatest width of the hull at the top edges, inside measurement, varied from 10 to 17 inches. The greatest depth in the middle line, from the line connecting the top edges to the inner surface of the bottom, varied from 11½in. to 1ft. 7½in.

It will thus be seen how frail these canoes were, and the necessity of an outrigger to increase the width in the water to render them more stable, is apparent.

The top edges of the hull from stem to stern, or the gunwale of the hull, is termed the kauhau.

Topsides, oa or tango. Strips of plank, usually of breadfruit wood, kuru, were added along the top of the hull gunwale, kauhau, on either side, to deepen the canoe. They were lashed on with sinnet in a similar manner to the joining of the hull pieces. The planks were trimmed and fitted, so as to correspond in thickness with the gunwale edge. They were laid so that the planks met flush at the seam with the canoe gunwale. Holes were bored through near the lower edge of the planks, and holes corresponding near the canoe gunwale edge. Through these the sinnet was passed and tightened, as with the hull joins. The lashings showed both outside and inside. The canoe was thus carvel-built, as in all Polynesian canoes. The topside is now usually known as tango, but the old name is oa.

According to the Vaipae people, the old tango consisted of a hau pole, which was lashed to the outer side of the hull gunwale throughout its length on either side. In the days when timber had to be laboriously dubbed out with stone adzes, the smaller canoes within the lagoon may have been treated thus. It was simpler to cut down a hau pole as compared with preparing a plank. The pole was lashed on with sinnet, Fig. 228A.

Figure 228.Position of tango in canoe section.

Figure 228.
Position of tango in canoe section.

A—Aitutaki (old time). B—Rarotonga.

a, tango; b, oa; c, outrigger boom; d, hull.

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In Rarotonga, the tango is a hau pole lashed longitudinally over the two transverse booms. It is just a few inches out from the plank topside, which is called oa, Fig. 228B. It is independent of the topside or hull, and is used for lifting and carrying the canoe. In the present-day Aitutaki canoe with plank topsides the Rarotongan tango is not considered necessary. In Atiu, Mauke, and Mangaia the lifting pole is used, as the canoes had to be carried by its means on the shoulder out to the reef. There were no channels to float through. A similar pole, lashed further on the booms, was used on Aitutaki canoes for a different purpose.

The plank topsides were carried along the canoe gunwales to meet the sides of the bow and stern covers. In the modern Aitutaki canoes the topsides run to the ends of the canoe.

Bow and Stern Covers, poki or papahura. A covering of dubbed out plank was fitted on to cover a portion of the hull, both at the bow and the stern. The wood used was tamanu, hau, puka, or, in recent times, vi mango. In the ordinary small canoes, where the topsides were not deep, besides shaping the covers to correspond with the sides of the canoe and come to a point, they were dubbed out on the under surface to form projecting ridges round the sides for direct attachment to the gunwale of the hull.

Where the topsides extended to the ends of the canoes, the covers were flat. They were then attached by passing sinnet lashing, through holes along the outer edges of the covers and through the upper edges of the topsides. The common name for the covers is poki, but the old name was papahura.

In ancient days, according to Tutere of Vaipae, there was only one papahura, which was at the bow. This plank did not cover the hold, but was attached to the sides and
Figure 229. Projecting bow plank, papahura.

Figure 229.
Projecting bow plank, papahura.

a, bow plank; b, top side; c, hull.

page 264 projected forward for about 2 feet, Fig. 229. He maintained that it was shaped to the inner edge of the canoe gunwale, as indicated in Fig. 229. Its function was to keep the waves from splashing in over the bow.

This feature resembles that seen in the old pictures of Tahitian canoes. It is seen in some Rarotongan canoes, where the projecting flat cover is used as a platform upon which to carry a seine net. It makes it easier to pay out the net. The example shown in Fig. 230 has a lower projecting ridge dubbed out of the solid. The ridge fits round the outer side of the canoe gunwale and the lashing is passed through holes in this. On the upper surface it is seen to cover part of the hold.

Figure 230.Rarotongan canoe, with projecting bow covers for seine net.

Figure 230.
Rarotongan canoe, with projecting bow covers for seine net.

In the Rarotongan canoe, Fig. 230, the bow is raised to a point, and the stern slightly so. The bow cover rises with the canoe bow. It is also deepened at the sides to represent the top-sides. The posterior end of the sides of the cover are lashed to the topsides at their junction. There is no stern cover.

Thwarts, nohoanga. The term nohoanga means seat. The thwarts are lashed to the topsides on either side by sinnet passed through holes. They serve to brace the topsides together, as well as acting as seats. In Aitutaki, the seat also assists in supporting the mast. A hole is made through its middle to allow the mast to pass through. The nohoanga then becomes a papatira, from papa, a board, and tira, a mast.

In tacking the canoe does not go about, but the position of the mast is changed. There is, therefore, another perforated seat aft.

The fore seat has its front edge hard up against the fore cross-boom of the outrigger. Directly below the hole page 265in the seat, a raised ring of wood has been left when dubbing out the hold of the canoe. Towards the stern the second seat occupies the same relative position as the first. Its posterior edge rests against the aft cross-boom of the outrigger. It is also pierced with a hole, and there is a raised rim below it on the bottom of the hold.

In the small canoes from other islands, where sailing is not possible, there is only one seat, which is amidships. The seat is often attached on its left end by lashings to the lifting pole, or tango.