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The Maori Canoe

Canoes of Santa Cruz Group

Canoes of Santa Cruz Group

Mendana saw double canoes at the Santa Cruz Group in 1595. Mr. Seed's report also states that these natives formerly employed large seagoing double canoes. Mendana remarked that the natives of Santa Cruz possessed "large handsome canoes, capable of carrying above thirty persons with their luggage, in which they navigated to distant parts. The sail was of matting, wide at the upper part and narrow below. They sailed swiftly, and turned well to windward."

Labillardière wrote as follows of the canoes of the Santa Cruz Group, seen by him in 1793: "All these canoes have outriggers…. Their bows are placed upon the platform situated between the canoe and the outrigger and formed of close wickerwork. The body of the canoes is in general fifteen feet long and six in width. It is of a single piece cut out of the trunk of a tree, very light…. There is through the whole length an excavation of five inches wide. Here the rowers sit with their legs one before the other, and up to the calf in the hollow [see fig. 163, p. 359]. They are seated on the upper part, which is smooth. At each of the extremities, which are formed like a heart, we observed two T's, the one above the other, cut out, but not very deep, and sometimes in rilievo. The lower part of the canoe is very well formed for moving through the water. The outrigger is always on the left of the rowers."

Seventy-four of these canoes were seen in one bay. The body of a canoe 15 ft. in length would certainly not be 6 ft. in width. This must include the outrigger.

Of the canoes of this group W. Coote remarks, in his little work on the Western Pacific: "The canoes of this group are as distinctive in character as the people themselves. They are almost always built—that is, are not carved out of a single log, as is usual in the page 359canoes of less ingenious races. They are, however, stained white, and, in addition to the usual outrigger, have a counterbalancing platform on the other side, on which may be carried bundles of arrows, coconuts, breadfruit, and other necessaries. Their dexterity in the management of these canoes is most remarkable. We saw several of them upset and swamped, but the owners, swimming up to them, would, in less time than it takes to write of it, shake the water out with a swinging motion, jump in, and bail them dry with the greatest ease…. Drawn up on this beach were some splendid canoes, fitted with spars and sails, and reserved for long journeys. They were over forty feet long, and were decked in, so that such cargo as they Fig. 163 Outrigger Canoes of Santa Cruz Islands. Small craft with narrow hulls. (See p. 358.) Beattie, Hobart, photo might carry could be battened down and kept from wet. Upon the platform between the main hull and the outrigger was a small house in which a fire could be lighted. The sail, which was of matting, was of the usual heart-shape, with a semi-circle cut away from the top. These vessels will not sail near the wind, but attain a very fair speed when running free."

Here we meet with the balance-platform of Micronesia, fixed on the opposite side to the outrigger, and also the Tahitian form of sail. A photograph of a trading-canoe of Santa Cruz shows the arrow-head sail with deep opening, resembling those of New Guinea. The canoe carries an outrigger on one side, a balance-platform on the other.

page 360

D'Urville gives us an illustration of a canoe of Vanikoro (Queen Charlotte Islands, north of New Hebrides) showing the arrowhead form of sail. It is rigged as a lateen sail with two yards, set at a high angle, while the mast is set obliquely at a low angle. The effect of this is most singular. Another shows a canoe of the same locality with outrigger on one side and balance-platform on the other. Another platform appears on the booms of the outrigger, and both of these platforms slope upwards and outwards. The sail has a very deep, rounded indentation in its upper part. The hold of the vessel is narrow. Yet another illustration of a Vanikoro canoe shows the hold decked over with the exception of a comparatively small central portion. The crew or passengers must occupy the two platforms. The two booms are connected with the float by short pieces, while two braces or struts extend from either side of the boom platform to the float.