Canoes of Tongareva, or Penrhyn Island

Of the canoes of this island, or congeries of small isles, Mr. S. P. Smith writes as follows: "They were of all sizes, the largest capable of holding forty or fifty men, and they invariably had an ama, or outrigger. They were made of a tree called to; not the ito, or iron-wood, of the other islands, but a much softer wood. A tree from three page 299 to four feet in diameter was selected, and then patiently hacked down with shell adzes. The log is then rolled to the sea, where the action of the waves partially softens the wood, sufficiently so to allow the builders to split it up into variously-sized pieces, the longest and narrowest of which is selected to form a keel, about a foot broad, rounded at the bottom and hollowed inside. The keel is shaped so as to gradually slope up at either end, terminating above the water in the ihu, or bow, at one end. Various pieces of irregular shape are now cut to fit one another, and with them the sides are built up, each piece being carefully rounded off so as to conform to the general contour. They are polished with coral to make them fit, and the edges of each piece are bored with a sharp stone or shell to receive the lashings which hold them together. The joints are cemented together with a preparation of pounded coconut husk steeped in water. The body of the canoe is not built the whole length of the page 300 keel-piece, but projecting parts are left both at stern and bow, the latter to act as a cutwater, which, being bluff, prevents the vessel sinking in the trough of the seas. The upper tier of pieces has a projecting ledge on which the paddlers sit, whilst in the stern is a raised seat used to steer from. The paddle is long, the blade narrow and usually carved." It is not made clear how a fore-and-aft ledge accommodates paddlers; possibly cross-pieces used as seats rest on the ledges, as in the Manihiki canoes.

Quiros gives us little satisfaction as to Polynesian canoes. Sailing westward from the Paumotus, he came to an island that he places in 18° 30' S. latitude, and remarks as follows on the vessels seen there: "Their canoes were built of a white wood; their form long and narrow. The planks were fastened together at the jointing of the seams with strong cords made from the palm-tree; the sails were of the latine shape, and made of matwork of palm-leaves."

In his account of Gente Hermosa (Rakahanga) Isle, Torres says: "The natives had large sailing-canoes, which they kept under sheds."

The canoes seen by Hale at Duke of York Island, in the Union Group, were double, and the paddle-blades were not oval, but oblong and slender.