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The Atoll of Funafuti, Ellice group : its zoology, botany, ethnology and general structure based on collections made by Charles Hedley of the Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W.

Canoes

Canoes.

One of the most marked distinctions between Melanesians and Polynesians resides in their canoes. "The Melanesian does not venture far out to sea in his canoe; and although in the Solomons the natives make voyages from island to island of two or three hundred miles, these are entirely within the group, and performed exclusively with paddles, sails not being used at all. Indeed I suppose the Solomon Island canoes never go out of sight of land. Coming to the New Hebrides, where the population is almost entirely Melanesian, canoes are conspicuous by their absence, such as are seen being the most wretched affairs, and totally unfitted for any extended voyage."

This statement of Mr. Woodford requires qualification, for on Malli-colo I am informed that large well-built canoes exist.

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The Polynesian, on the other hand, "is eminently a navigator, venturing far to sea and making considerable voyages out of sight of land in his large out-rigged or double canoe, with its enormous triangular sail. Of course, as to all seafaring people, accidents sometimes happen, a sudden squall or succession of contrary winds prevent the navigators making their port, and the canoe is driven by the winds and currents, until in the majority of cases, no doubt, it is broken up, or its unfortunate occupants are dead of hunger and thirst; but in some instances, after drifting for days, and perhaps weeks, ignorant of their position, they have sighted one of those tiny coral atolls that dot this part of the Pacific, and landing upon it, have formed the nucleus of a future population."*

Gill has described and figured a Polynesian compass-card of thirty-two points, employed by the navigators of the Hervey Islands, The visits of the Tongan marauders to Funafuti have already been described {ante p. 44). The Ellice Group was not the only direction these pirates took, for, besides visiting most of the nearer islands, they had planted a colony in far Mangaiia. In the opposite direction the natives of Tucopia, an islet five hundred miles west of Rotuma, relate that they were once visited "by five large double canoes from Tonga, the crews of which committed dreadful outrages, destroyed plantations, robbed houses, violated the females, and murdered the males." § Figures of these large Tongan vessels are given by Dumont D'Urville.rakesh The exploits of Karika who, in his great double canoe with two masts and a crew of one hundred and seventy, made eight wonderful voyages between Rotuma, Savaii, Tonga, and the Hervey Islands, have been chronicled by Gill. P. Smith gives from Fornander "the well authenticated voyages between the Sandwich Islands and Tahiti, a distance of two thousand three hundred and eighty miles," but I have been unable to verify the reference. As late as 1855 a great single Maori canoe lay at Hauraki, N.Z., which measured a hundred and ten feet in length.**

The Micronesian also excels in navigation, the Marshall Islanders disputing with the Tongans the claim to be the boldest and most skilful sailors in the Pacific. Their canoes were provisioned for voyages of the duration of several months. On the sloping

* Woodford—A Naturalist among the Head-hunters, 1890, p. 238.

Gill—Myths and Songs from the South Pacific, 1876, p. 320.

Grill—Savage Life in Polynesia, 1880, p. 105.

§ Dillon—Narrative of a Voyage to ascertain the fate of La Péroxise, ii., 1829. p. 112.

Report Austr. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1890 (1891), p. 634.

** For descriptions of Maori canoes see Hamilton—Maori Art, pt. i., 1897,

page 282platforms built out on each side there are frequently little houses in which three or four of the crew can sleep.*

"They actually make curious charts ['medo'] of thin strips of wood tied together with fibres. Some of these charts indicate the positions of the different islands with a surprising approach to accuracy. Others give the direction of the prevailing winds and currents. These are used as instruments to determine the course to be steered, so as to take advantage of the wind and to allow for current drift rather than as charts are used by us."

As the Ellice Islanders formerly fought with the Tongans and traded with the Micronesians, they probably learnt arts of seamanship from friends and foes. Once Funafuti possessed large ocean-going vessels, "fouroua," in which cruises were made to Nui and Vaitupu, but these, Mr. O'Brien told me, had disappeared for more than twenty years. The existing canoes are only small craft, fit but for fishing or for crossing the lagoon. The adventurous spirit which prompted their ancestors to undertake exploring voyages is still alive on the atoll, where there is hardly a man who is not anxious to travel. On leaving, several of my native friends begged me to take them to Fiji or Australia upon any terms.

On Fakaafu, Lister was "told that in the old times they had two vessels—each with two masts, and without outriggers—described as being as large as the trading schooners which visit the island. Each of these would hold, it is said, all the available fighting men in the island, perhaps a hundred and fifty to two hundred men." And Newell "had reliable evidence that until recently there were planks 'two fathoms wide,' the remains of one of these old island canoes to be seen on Fakaafu. "§ It was probably in ships like these that the Rotumans used to visit Vaitupu and Nui.

A method by which the inter-island voyagers secured a beacon for which to steer is thus described by Woodford:—"When I was at the island of Nukufetau, I was told that when they wanted to communicate with the island of Oaitupu, they were in the habit of making fires on the reef for two or three moonless nights in succession, until they saw the glare in the sky from the answering fires made by the natives of Oaitupu. As soon as the fires were

* Finsch.—Ann. K. K. Naturhist. Hofmus., viii., 1893, pp. 160,161, figs. 23, 24.

Bridge—Proc. Roy. Geogr. Soc., viii., 1886, p. 556. For figures see Cat. Godeffroy Museum, 1881, pl. xxxii.; and Journ. Polynesian Soc., iv., 1895, pl. v., p. 236.

Lister—Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxi., 1892, p. 57.

§ Newell—Proc. Austr. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vi., 1895 (1896), p. 605.

Dillon—loc. cit., ii., p. 103.

page 283noticed on Oaitupu, the Nukufetau canoes used to start early the next morning, and the fires were continued every night on Oaitupu till the canoes arrived, the distance being about thirty-five miles."*

On Funafuti the priest, "vakatua" chose the auspicious day for starting on a long voyage and in the event of the vessel missing her destination, he might suffer vengeance by being killed and eaten by the crew of starving castaways.

As the gigantic Moas of New Zealand have all perished, leaving their small relation, the Apteryx, alone to represent them, so the huge and ancient vessels of the Pacific, the great double canoes and the plank-built ship described to Lister, have vanished, leaving in existence only the little outrigger fishing canoe, "vaka." Whether the double canoe was evolved from the outrigger, or the outrigger from the double canoe, or each arose independently of the other, we lack material for profitable consideration.

The size of the timbers used in canoe-building is, of course, directly related to the wealth or poverty of the local forest flora. Finsch's figure of a portion of a Gilbert Island canoe, in which seventeen small pieces of wood are neatly fitted together, speaks eloquently of the few and stunted trees growing there.

The specimens and figures of South Sea outrigger canoes within my reach, seem to show that, as has already been demonstrated in the case of most articles and ornaments, each archipelago and almost each island may be distinguished by peculiarities of structure. When these shall have been thoroughly studied, a classification will be possible, now the data is insufficient.

Of the published illustrations of these canoes that I have seen, the nearest approach in general contour to the Funafuti pattern is made by one from Samoa roughly sketched by Edge-Partington. The general association of the two islands would lead us to expect a close resemblance between the object of our enquiry and the canoes of Fakaafu, which are thus briefly described by Lister:—"The canoes of the present time are built just like those of Samoa, having a single outrigger. Owing to the scarcity of large trees on the island, the body of the canoe is built of several pieces, each separately hollowed, and these are laced together with sinnet (plaited coconut fibre). Often there are as many as four distinct pieces along the bottom, and the sides are built up with additional pieces to the required height. Each piece is accurately shaped so that it will fit in among the neighbouring ones, and the joints are caulked with resin. The bow and stern are covered in for a short distance, and on their upper surfaces a number of small pyramidal

* Woodford—Proc. E. G-eogr. Soc, x., 1888, p. 352.

Finseh—Ann. K. K. Naturhist. Hofmus., viii., 1893, p. 68.

Edge-Partington—loc. cit., ii., pl. xliv., fig. 9.

page 284projections are left in the middle line, to which white shells of Cypraea ovula are attached for ornament. The upper surface of the stern-piece is not horizontal, but slopes obliquely downwards to the end. The canoes would hold seven or eight people."*

These canoes are propelled both by sail and paddle; the sail was formerly of palm or pandanus mats, and is now of calico. It is hoisted after the ordinary Polynesian method, upon two converging masts, stepped upon the thwarts or gunwale and steadied by a backstay. At each tack the masts and sail are unshipped, and carried round bodily end for end, the craft therefore never "goes about." Under sail they can travel seven or eight miles an hour easily; they lie close to the wind, but for want of a keel make rapid leeway.

With paddles three men are the usual complement, but one alone can handle such a craft comfortably. The paddlers sit on the thwarts, paddling chiefly on the starboard side, as the outrigger impedes them on the port. When in earnest the natives can drive them at a great rate. One day I saw a crew chase, overtake and board a ship which was passing the atoll three or four miles away, and making probably five or six knots. The paddle is never rowed, grasped in both hands it is plunged vertically into the water and withdrawn after a short fore and aft stroke. A course is kept by all without any particular steering. To turn sharply the paddle is struck into the water by the aftermost man as far away as he can reach and pulled through the water towards him. When in sufficiently shoal water, the paddle is always exchanged for the pole, a method of progression which is likewise preferred by the Papuans. For an anchor, a block of coral is made fast to the painter. These canoes draw about six inches and weigh about a hundredweight and a half.

Although there are not, as in other Pacific Islands, jetties or boathouses, the canoes are well taken care of. Returning from an excursion, the canoe is carried to above high water-mark, two men lifting it clear of the ground. Here it is rolled over and lies deck down, hull up, well covered over with a pile of mats till again required. A worn out canoe cuts up into handy troughs or coffins. On Nukulailai the canoes were all tarred over, but on Funafuti they remain unpainted.

I regret my omission to note the native words for the parts and furniture of a canoe.

The specimen before me (Plate xv., fig. 1) of the ordinary outrigger canoe of Funafuti supplies the material for the following figures and descriptions, with which are included a few notes taken on the spot.

The Museum specimen is twenty-three feet six inches in total length, one foot five inches in greatest depth, and one foot three

* Lister—loc. cit.

page 285inches in greatest breadth; another I measured on the atoll was twenty-nine feet in total length, one foot ten inches in greatest depth, one foot four inches in greatest breadth, twenty feet the open space from deck to deck, twelve feet length of outrigger float, four feet distance from float to hull.

As previously described (p. 32), the hull is hewn out of a log of pouka, which is trimmed down for stem and stern, and, except a foot of deadwood left solid fore and aft, is hollowed to a shell three-quarters of an inch thick. In longitudinal-vertical section it is bow-shaped (the chord above the arc below), swollen in the belly, flexed forward and quite straight aft. In transverse-vertical section it is rounded and flattened beneath, the flattened area being about six inches broad, and extending along the central third of the vessel. Aft from this the tapering sides are flattened to meet in a straight sloping keel which over-hangs the water and rises aft. The bows are very sharp and hollow, with a fine slender run aft, the stem is clipper-shaped, the cut-water is one foot long and overhangs four inches, when floating empty the fore foot just touches water.

Upon this hull is built up the top side planking, which, in the specimen under consideration is on the starboard side of one piece twelve feet four inches in length and eight inches in greatest depth; on the port side it is in two pieces, fourteen feet in length, and nine inches in greatest depth; both are an inch thick, adzed level to the deck above and sinuous below to follow the irregular curves of the hull. To the hull this planking is attached by a series of lashings placed at intervals of from four to ten inches. The lashings, consisting always of the flat sinnet braid called "kafa," are passed four times through holes bored half an inch within the edge, and knotted at each pair of holes, never being carried along from pair to pair. Where on the port side two planks join, a triangular lashing attaches each to each and to the hull. I have no reliable information of the composition and application of the caulking used in the seams.*

The Tahitians caulked their canoes with the husk of coconut and gum of breadfruit; the Penrhyn Islanders stopped holes and seams with coconut husk steeped in water and pounded like flax; and the Solomon Islanders used a kind of vegetable putty from the nut of Parinarium laurinum.§

* Finsch—op. cit., pl. vi., fig. 5, figures a caulking-tool from the Louisiades.

Ellis—loc. cit., i., p. 156.

Lamont—loc. cit., p. 152.

§ Woodford—loc. cit., p. 158; and Sommerville—Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxvi., 1897, p. 370.

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The stern sheets terminate diversely, according to the taste of the architect; a vertical (Plate xv., fig. 3) or horizontal fork, representing, so the natives said, a fish's tail, being popular, and sometimes a turtle's tail is imitated.

Both fore and aft are movable deckings or hatch covers, each carved in one piece, an inch thick, of the full breadth of the hull, with the top sides of which they are flush, their narrow ends countersunk in the deadwood of the head or stern sheets and their broad ends with a finger at each corner which locks under the gunwale rail. The forward decking, two feet eight inches long, carries at its after end a seat carved in relief, hollowed on the inner side, the outer sides of which, rising in a wedge, present a vertical face two inches high and act as a wash board. The after-decking, three feet long, has a corresponding wash board, enclosing a raised rod-rest, a block three inches high, three wide, and four long, hollowed on the inside to receive a fishing-rod whose butt swings in a grummet slung from the aftermost thwart (Plate xv., fig. 4).* Aft from the wash board along the median line of the decking there is in this individual canoe a row of seven little pyramids, each an inch and a half high. Usually they are more numerous and are sometimes continued along past the decking to the extremity of the stern. There appears to be no use for these, though it has been suggested to me that they might be useful as cleats. Lister saw them festooned with Ovula shells on Fakaafu. I regard them as purely ornamental, and from their association with the terminal fish-tail I further look upon them as a conventional representation of the peculiar dorsal finlets of the bonito. They are remarkable as being the only ornamental wood carving now executed by the Ellice Islanders.

From the port side of the canoe waist project three outriggers, three feet apart at the hull and slightly spreading outwards. The outrigger butts, one and a half inches square, cross to the starboard side and serve as thwarts in the interval, they are usually sunk in the top sides of port and starboard and firmly lashed thereto. The outriggers are usually entire, but are sometimes made divisible, spliced in a lock-joint and served (Plate xv., fig. 5). The advantage of detaching the outrigger float from the hull occurs when the canoes are beached and rolled over, the separated hull being more manageable. At Funafuti the outriggers are always cut from a straight stiok which throws off a branch at an angle of about sixty degrees, such a timber being abundantly supplied by Rhizophora; the main stem is cut off six inches beyond the fork, and the branch is continued for eighteen inches, at which point it rests on the

* Cook noticed that in Tonga the fishing-rod "rests in a notch of a piece of wood, fixed in the stern of the canoe for that purpose." Cook—Last Voyage, i., 1785, p. 396.

page 287outrigger float. On either side of it, fore and aft, stout pegs, four or five inches long, are driven an inch or so into the solid timber of the outrigger float, to which the outrigger is secured by lashing pegs and outrigger firmly together (Plate xv., fig. 7). This seems to be an exceptional method. In other archipelagoes the outrigger is usually a straight unbranched pole, to which are fastened long stakes driven into the outrigger float. A modification of this is well shown by Finsch from the Louisiades.* The four-inch pegs just mentioned appear to be the homologues of these stakes.

Another method used in Funafuti (Plate xv., fig. 6), is to bore the float horizontally and pass a lashing through the hole and round the outrigger tip. Yet another way of binding the outrigger to the float has been described to me by Mr. S. Sinclair, who saw it practised in Eromanga, New Hebrides. Here the whole structure of outriggers and appurtenances takes to pieces and is packed up when not in use; when set up, a forked outrigger, like that of Funafuti, is lashed by the butt across the hull, while the distal extremity is received into a socket in the float, to which it is secured by fore and aft rope guys leading from the float to the fork, the whole structure is therefore flexible instead of rigid. There are numerous undescribed methods of attaching the float to the outrigger; indeed this subject alone would provide material for a treatise of value and interest.

The float is a round straight log, ten feet long, six inches in diameter, distant four feet from the hull, pointed at both ends. In use it swims awash; when the canoe is heeled gradually over, a capsize occurs the instant the float is lifted clear of the water.

The outrigger platform is completed by three or more stretchers, lashed across the outriggers at intervals, the outside one being always fastened beyond the fork. In Funafuti the platform is only used for carrying paddles, masts, poling sticks, fishing rods, and such gear; it is never sat upon. In New Guinea I frequently made canoe journeys with the natives; there the outrigger platform is always assigned to a chief or "dim dim" (white man) as the seat of honour; on it I have sat all day and slept all night. On my first canoe trip in Funafuti I at once attempted to climb on to my accustomed perch, an act which not only evoked a howl of remonstrance but nearly upset the canoe. My apparent rudeness and awkwardness taught me with humiliation the difference in the build of outrigged canoes.

For gunwale rails poles are served along each side to the thwarts, but such rails are not always present.

* Finsch—loc. cit.s pl. vi., fig. 4.

Compare Moseley—Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vi., 1877, p. 405.

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Like most other Funafuti implements, the bailers are distinguished by their rough, unfinished state. In this they contrast unfavourably with bailers from other archipelagoes which are often highly finished and the subject of decorative carving on their sides, ends, and handle; wherever, indeed, the friction of their office permitted. Occasionally they attain a large size, a giant from the Admiralty Islands, which dominates its fellows in the Australian Museum, measures no less than twenty-three by twelve by eight inches. Though the general plan is common to all Pacific bailers, yet the tongue varies by being sometimes and sometimes not, carried in an arch to the floor. On the south coast of British New Guinea, a large shell, Melo diadema, is used as a bailer, the ventral, side of the last whorl being knocked out to admit an inserted hand to grasp the columella; and in the Solomons, Somerville saw bailers "of banana leaf stitched into the shape of a small coal-scoop without a handle."* Bailers made from a palm spathe from the Fly River, New Guinea, are in the Australian Museum.

The Funafuti bailer (Plate xv., fig. 8) is a plain, narrow, deep scoop of probably Calophyllum wood; in weight one pound five ounces, in length a foot, in depth two and a half inches, and in breadth narrowing from five and a half posteriorly to two and a half inches anteriorly. The sides are at right angles to the back and floor, and the handle is a median tongue attached to the back and floor, seven inches long, an inch and a half deep, and three-quarters of an inch broad; beneath the bailer is rounded to fit the canoe floor. In use it is not filled, lifted, and emptied, as with us, but the water is gathered and shot out at one vigorous sweep.

The paddles (Plate xv., fig. 9) agree with the foregoing in being made strictly for service, not at all for show. A specimen before me weighs two pounds two ounces, and measures four feet six inches in total length, of which half is handle, half blade; the former being an inch and a half square, the latter five and a half inches wide sloping to a thin edge. The blade has sloping shoulders, parallel sides, and lanceolate point. Lister remarks of the Fakaafu paddles that they have, "longer blades than those of Samoa,—in botanical language they are oblong acute, not ovate. This difference may be due to the small size of the timber on the islets."

* Somerville—Journ. Authrop. Inst., xxvi., 1897, p. 371.