Parts of a Double Canoe

• fualua, lualua: double canoe

• vaka katea: starboard hull

• vaka ama: port hull

• itu ama, ama: port side

• itu katea, katea: starboard side

• vaialovasa: space between hulls

• kiato: cross boom

• kiato mua: fore cross boom

• kiato loto: center cross boom

• ulu kiato: ends of center boom

• kiato muli: aft cross boom

• puningalu: fore and aft weather boards

• sai: side weather boards

• laupapa: deck between hulls

• pupuni: deck boards of hulls

• pupuni liu: hatch covers

• tafafa: cross bar just forward of stern weather board for securing sheet

• faufau: lashings (general term)

• fana: mast

• tulafana: mast step

• taulele: fore and aft mast stays

• tauama: port mast shrouds

• taukatea: starboard mast shrouds

• ungakoa: “pulley loop” for halyard

• taulanga: cleat or pin for securing halyard

• tafue te la: moving mast forward of aft on step

• tilatu: upper spar, yard

• tilalalo: lower spar, boom

• tungapoupou: end of upper spar below joining with boom

• toku: halyard

• fafa: sheet

• la: sail

• mulila: apex of sail, tack

• sukui: peak and clew

• ulula: leech or free edge of sail

• kafa la: rope reinforcement along edges of sail, bolt rope

• kafa taenga: bolt rope stitched along sail

• ungakoa: sail loops

• taufakaoko: lashing rope to spars

• taupule, velo: ornamental shells

• pule vaka: white cowrie (Ovula)

• ulupokofana: cowrie atop mast head

• hoe matua, katea uli: steering oar held on starboard side of canoe

• hoe fakalakatau: steering oar held on port side of same canoe

• hoe: paddle

• hale vaka: deck house

page 121

The following description of the double canoe is based on a model constructed during my visit under the guidance of Mika, an old canoe builder. Throughout the building Mika discussed with me the parts and order of construction. Just before I left, I was presented with a model of the simple traveling canoe built from the hulls of fishing canoes for temporary use.

This temporary double canoe is made by lashing together two fishing canoes, from which the outriggers have been removed, by a set of four cross booms lashed over the same points in which the outrigger booms had been secured. This canoe is called faulua, a name derived from the verb, faulualua, which in Samoan (22) means “to bind together as two canoes”. The bows of the two hulls point in opposite directions. The sail is rigged like that of the fishing canoe, with back and outrigger stays and a mast set on the gunwale or bow cover.

The hulls of the large, decked sailing canoe, lualua, (pl. 3, A) are built in the same way as those of the fishing canoes. The largest hulls, 70 or 80 feet long, are said to have been composed of 5 or 6 sections. The two hulls, one shorter than the other, are placed side by side with bows pointing in opposite directions. Heavy cross booms are lashed to each gunwale of the hulls, the number of booms depending upon the length of the canoe. The middle booms extend beyond the sides of the canoe, providing projections for lashing the mast stays.

The bulwarks or weather boards are placed on the gunwales and ends of the deck covers as protection from the spray and overwash. Weather boards are lashed also at each end of the center deck between the inner, side weather boards. The lower edges of the side weather boards are cut away to fit snugly over the cross booms and are lashed directly through holes along the lower edge and through holes in the gunwales. The ends are lashed to the bow and stern weather boards which stand higher than the side boards. The bow weather board is convex on its outer face and concave on its lower edge to fit over the wave guard of the bow cover. The stern weather board is flat with slightly rounded ends. The lower edge is undercut to set closely over the fishing pole block, which runs completely across the forward end of the stern cover. A deck plank is placed between the hulls over the cross booms and lashed at the ends to the inner, side weather boards. The weather boards are sometimes ornamented with cowrie shells.

The decks of the hulls are in three sections: a long and a short piece of planking which are cut to set against the bow and stern weather boards, and a hatch cover which is placed between them. The longer plank extends over the first and middle cross booms, and the shorter plank over the last, leaving a space between the third and fourth booms as a hatchway. The opposing ends of the planks have projecting lips on the lower sides over which the undercut flanges of the hatch cover fit to make a watertight joint.

The hatch cover has two pairs of holes, through which two ropes are run from the under side, where they are knotted at each end. These form handles to raise the covers when it is necessary to bail the canoe or bring up stores from below.

In some double canoes the hulls were left undecked and the crews paddled as well as sailed. The largest double canoes had a small house or shelter constructed on the center deck between the two hulls.

Mast and Block

The mast is stepped on a short, broad plank set on edge across the middle of the center deck between the hulls and lashed at its ends to the inner, side weather boards. A large U-shaped notch is cut in the upper side. The base of the mast is U-shaped and fits over the step so that it can be rocked forward or backward to the proper angle for the sail. The mast is of one piece tapering gradually to the top, surmounted by a white shell fastened with a fine cord.

page 122

The mast is stayed with six ropes, two to each side, one forward, and one aft. The port stays are made of one rope which is wrapped three times around the mast near the top and secured with a half-hitch. The two ends are brought down and lashed to the two projecting ends of the middle cross booms. The starboard stays are similarly secured but are lashed at the mast with a seized rope loop which acts as a pulley for the sail halyard. Below the lashing of the side stays, the fore and aft stays pass through a hole running abeam in the mast. They are knotted on each side of the hole to prevent the mast from sliding forward or backward and are lashed through holes in the weather boards of the center decking. A cleat for holding the halyard is tied to the mast near its base.

The Sail

The sail of the double canoe is the usual western Polynesian triangular mat sail supported on its apex between a boom and an upper spar. The base and sides of the sail are straight. The spar is straight and somewhat broadened at its lower end, which rests on the deck of the starboard canoe against the weather board. The fore end of the boom is suspended from the spar by a short rope, which is run through holes in the spar and boom and knotted at either end. Two thirds of the length up the spar is a hole through which the halyard is led and knotted on the lower side. The halyard passes through the loop above on the mast and down to the cleat at the foot of the mast. The sheet is lashed around the boom and tied to a horizontal bar between the side weather boards at the aft end.

When the sail is hoisted, the apex is forward of the mast and the spar rests against the forward weather board. The mast is stood at an angle slightly sloping aft.

The sail is made of one piece of matting, plaited in check and reinforced along its sides by a basting of sennit. In preparing the sail for lashing to the boom and spar, a bolt line of sennit braid is laid along the edges, commencing and ending at the apex. A large loop is left at both peak and clew, and the ends are left projecting beyond the apex. The head and leech are folded over this line and basted down with a twisted cord. In the middle of the leech the basting cord is given a dozen turns about the fold to make it secure. Although the foot is not folded over, the basting is continued from the clew to the apex, which is bound to hold the fold of the head and the edge of the lower foot together. The bolt which is now projecting from the lower end of the leech is brought along the edge of the foot, leaving a large loop at the clew. The basting cord left at the apex is drawn between the strands of the bolt line, then through the sail, stitching the bolt line along the foot.

The sail is lashed to the spars by a rope running spirally around the spar and through five loops sewn on the head and foot. These loops are made of twisted cord doubled and seized and sewn on the edge of the sail. The peak and clew are tied to the ends of the spar and boom with the loops of bolt line. The ends of the bolt line are tied about the short rope between the fore end of the boom and spar.

Steering Oars

A steering oar is used today in sailing canoes on the lagoon. It is smaller but shaped identically like the steering oars of the old double canoes. These are short-handled, broad-bladed, and blunt-ended oars, entirely different from the Samoan canoe paddle or steering oar. The blade is exceedingly long and broad in proportion to the handle.

Sailing the Double Canoe

The principle of sailing outrigger canoes (p. 119) is carried over in sailing the double canoe. The leeward canoe carries the sail, and the windward canoe page 123 is the counterbalance. The sail is hung from the center mast by a halyard and rests with its spar on the deck of the leeward hull, braced against the forward weather board. To avoid bringing the canoe about on a tack, the sail is reversed in the other hull and the canoe sailed with opposite end forward. To change the tack, the sail is furled to the upper spar and carried to the stern of the canoe. The fore and aft stays are released and the mast set at the proper angle for the new direction, and then the sail reset. The double canoe is steered by an oar at the stern of each hull.

Houses

The modern Tokelau village has a great variety of houses due to the introduction of house types from other parts of Polynesia and innovations inspired by European houses. A common form of roof, said to be introduced from the Ellice Islands, has secondary rafters which extend from the high eaves to cover verandas which are supported by two outer rows of posts (poupo letito). Kennedy (13) describes this in a modern house at Vaitupu. Gilbert Islanders have built raised dwellings with an upper floor for sleeping and storage, and a ground floor of strewn coral for living quarters. Houses on piles and houses with many windows and doors are also seen. The usual house has walls of plaited coconut sheets (polatatau) or of evenly trimmed pandanus sheets (faselau) of the tapering leaf points, which make a very neat shingled effect (pl. 4, A).