Craze of Competition.

Some years ago the natives took to building large open bouts, and this craze of competition continued until one town, known as Lefago, built a boat 156ft long, whose beam was 16ft. She worked with two banks of oars—about 150 in all. A tall man could walk erect along a corridor under the thwarts. This craft cost for materials, bought outside Samoa, about £800, and 50 men gave their services several months in working on her to assist the carpenters, and to cut hardwood knees from the bush. This was most likely the largest boat of the sort that has ever been constructed [unclear: since] Roman days. She was wantonly [unclear: dee] ed by the whites during the last was 1899, a piece of vandalism hard to [unclear: exp] on any possible theory.