page 282

The prototype of the Maori canoe must be sought in the Pacific, for the Maori was an immigrant from Polynesia. The outrigger canoe we shall find in most parts of the Pacific. The double canoe, though less widely used, is, or was, employed in many places. The single canoe without outrigger is the rarest form in the Pacific, but is more common in the west. It has been noted near Ternate, at the Solomons; and among the peoples of south-east Asia a similar form obtains; indeed, a craft resembling in form the Maori canoe is used in the Persian Gulf region.

page 283

The outrigger is found as far westward as Ceylon, and Indian records show that it has been used on that coast from very early times. Its eastern limit was Easter Island. Outside of this area the outrigger seems to have reached but one region, the east African coast and Madagascar; and this singular extension of its range may be connected with the Polynesian element in the Malagasy speech of Madagascar.

The outrigger was apparently an introduced feature on northern Australian coasts. The canoes of the Australian natives seen by Cook on his first voyage, when he sailed along the east coast of that land, were of two kinds. Towards the south the canoes were very crude, for they were "made of one piece of the bark of trees about twelve or fourteen feet long, drawn or tied together at one end." As a rule these held but one man. "The few canoes we saw to the northward were made out of a log of wood hollowed out, about fourteen feet long and very narrow, with outriggers; these will carry four people…. Bad and mean as their canoes are, they at certain seasons of the year go in them to the most distant islands page 284which lay upon the coast…. We were surprised to find houses, &c, upon Lizard Island, which lies five leagues from the nearest part of the main." Fig. 144 shows a diminutive form of outrigger canoe, such as are used for lagoon and longshore work.

The double outrigger has a much more restricted range than the single attachment. It is met with in Indonesia, in the Louisiade Archipelago, in parts of New Guinea, Melanesia, in the Sulu Archipelago, and in the African area alluded to. In writing of the natives of Torres Straits, Dr. R. W. Coppinger remarks in his Cruise of the "Alert" 1878-82. "Their boats are long dugout canoes, fitted with double outriggers, and very rudely constructed. Whether under sail or paddle, they manoeuvred very badly."

The same writer saw the double outrigger north of the eastern end of Java: "We passed through the strait which separates the islands of Sapodie and Madura, and as we emerged from its northern outlet found ourselves in the midst of a large fleet of Malay fishing-boats, of which no less than seventy were in sight at one time. These boats were long, narrow crafts, fitted with double outriggers, and having lofty curved prows and sterns. They carried a huge triangular sail, which, when going before the wind, is set right athwartships with the apex downwards, and when beating seemed to be used like a reversible Fiji sail."

In this account we recognize the true Maori and Polynesian sail, and these vessels, with high stern and stern-pieces, remind us of the Maori canoe.

Colonel Fox tells us of single outrigger canoes of Samoa, New Guinea, and the Solomon Isles so constructed as to allow of them sailing one way only. This means that the outrigger would sometimes be on the leeward side; hence a platform was constructed so as to project out on the opposite side of the canoe, and on this men stationed themselves when necessary to counterbalance by their weight the effect of the wind. Again, in certain parts of the Asiatic Archipelago, a form is used in which the canoe has greater beam, and is provided with such a projecting platform on both sides, but no outrigger, which has become, as it were, atrophied. Obviously the next step is to increase the beam of the vessel and so make it independent of the two balancing-platforms, which brings us to the ordinary type of Maori canoe. Fig. 145 shows the balance-platform of a single outrigger canoe.

Woodford, author of A Naturalist among the Head-hunters, writes as follows: "One of the most marked distinctions between Melanesians and Polynesians resides in their canoes. The Melanesian does page 285not 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 excluively with paddles, sails not being used at all. Indeed, I suppose the Solomon Island canoes never go out of sight of land." This writer describes the canoes of the New Hebrides group as "wretched affairs," totally unfitted for any extended voyage. C. Hedley, in his paper on Funafuti, remarks, however, that "I am informed that large, well-built canoes exist on Mallicolo." Woodford continues: "The Polynesian 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."

The following remarks on outrigger and double canoes of Polynesia are taken from Mr. C. M. Woodford's paper on Polynesian settlements in Melanesia: "The Polynesian canoe was fitted with an outrigger of light wood. This was, according to my observation, about two-thirds the length of the main canoe, and fixed at a distance from it of about one-third of the length of the canoe. It was always kept to windward, so that in going about the canoe had to change ends, the bow on one tack becoming the stern on the other. Subsequently the idea of substituting a second and slightly smaller canoe for the outrigger was introduced in Polynesia for the largest sailing-canoe. This rendered the whole much more stable, as there was no risk of a capsize either by submersion or elevation of the outrigger, contingencies both of which had to be guarded against in the outrigger canoe. There is no doubt that the Tongans and Samoans in their piratical excursions to distant islands used the double canoe in preference to the outrigger; and, in fact, it was impressed upon me at Sikaiana that, in speaking of the visits of the Tongan canoes, the two were lashed together, making one double canoe." Woodford also remarks that "Information obtained by me tends to the conclusion that, as late as one hundred years ago, the Polynesians were still in the habit of making long voyages to distant islands."

It will be noted that the greater part of the detailed information concerning the canoes of the Pacific area contained in this paper has been culled from the works of early writers, in many cases the earliest writers on subjects connected with that region. It is a curious and suggestive fact that the early voyagers give, in many cases, more detailed and satisfactory descriptions of native arts and industries than did the men who came after them, although the latter had better opportunities for conducting observations.

page 286