Canoes of New Guinea

In the account of the voyage of the "Astrolabe" we have an illustration of a New Guinea canoe with double outrigger, apparently. This was seen at Port Dorey. Both ends of the vessel are much elevated. Another such is shown fitted with a tripod mast on which is slung an interesting form of sail. This sail is oblong and rectangular, showing an easterly extension of a Celebes form. Advancing farther eastward in the Pacific we lose the rectangular form of sail. The above sail is provided with two yards, and is not hoisted in a horizontal position, but diagonally, as a lateen sail is. It looks as though this form had been adopted by a people who formerly used the triangular lateen sail, and who persisted in setting it in a similar manner. The triangular sail seems to have been the form originally employed over at least the greater part of the Pacific area, while the rectangular form had been carried eastward from Asia as far as New Guinea. The same authority shows a sail of similar form, oblong and rectangular, and set in the same oblique position, on a canoe of Amboyna, but in this case supported by a single mast, not the tripod structure. D'Urville gives an illustration of the double balance-platform of Amboyna.

In his work on British New Guinea J. P. Thomson states that, on a river running into Heath Bay, canoes having no outrigger are used by the natives. "These canoes, which measured about twenty feet in length, eighteen inches in breadth, and probably fifteen inches in depth, possessed no outriggers. They had been constructed of a hard dark wood dug out by the stone adze; their ends, which bore no ornamentations of any kinds, were alike in shape. Paddles are not used as the motive power, the method of propulsion being by means of poles." Later on he remarks: "It was noticed that they moved about in canoes without outriggers, which they propelled by means page 367of long poles that were used as paddles in deep water and for poling purposes in the shallows." ..

Of canoes seen at Collingwood Bay, British New Guinea, J. P. Thomson wrote: "They possess some large canoes, of about forty feet in length and two and half feet wide, sharp at the ends, and made from single logs of wood. They are balanced by outriggers projecting about twelve feet from their sides, the intermediate space being occupied by platforms constructed upon the crossbars."

Chalmers mentions having seen a few canoes without outriggers in use on the coast of the Gulf of Papua. Of a sojourn at Maipua he writes: "By the side of all the small streams are to be seen beautifully-cut-out canoes. Many are very fancifully carved, but none of them have outriggers. On these the Maipuans do all their fighting, and for days travel up the river," &c. Apparently these single canoes with no outriggers were used as river craft and for inshore work.

In The Savage South Seas, by Hardy and Elkington, is an illustration of a double canoe of New Guinea carrying a big lateen sail with two yards. This sail is of the arrow-head form, and the sides are curved, not straight; the opening at the top is a deep one. Such vessels consist of two or three large canoes lashed together and boarded over. These natives still prefer the stone adze in such work as finishing off a canoe.

In his well-illustrated work, Picturesque New Guinea, J. W. Lindt remarks that the Motu natives of eastern New Guinea make trading voyages along the coast to dispose of their pottery to the tribes of that region: "We saw them fitting up their large trading-canoes, or lakatoi, as they call them, which are in fact a species of raft formed of five or more large trunks of the buoyant pencil-cedar tree, hollowed out and lashed skilfully together. These huge rafts were in various stages of completion; from twenty to forty busy workmen were in each, fixing the lashings, and making splash-boards of lengths of thatch composed of pandanus-leaves…. A framework of strong saplings is first lashed right across the huge trading-vessel, projecting fore and aft about eight feet, and three feet over the sides, forming, when covered with the leaves, a gangway all round. Huts of the same tough material are erected on this base, and last of all the mast is shipped, carrying a neat sail of a peculiar shape, like the claw of a crab [the arrow-head sail]. Of course, naval structures of this kind are not well calculated for sailing close to the wind, but the astute natives get the better of Neptune and his laws by taking advantage of the prevailing winds to make their voyages annually. With the last of the south-east trades they sail westward to the villages on the coast … and after several weeks … they catch the north-west page 368monsoons to return homewards. Sometimes, on the return voyage, half a dozen or more of the family trading-canoes are lashed together, thus forming quite a floating village."

Of a canoe seen near South Cape, New Guinea, the same writer remarks: "On our walk to the beach we noticed a large war-canoe, made of an immense log of very buoyant timber, with the sides regularly built up of large planks of the same wood. The stern and stem were rudely ornamented with carvings, and painted with red, white, and black pigment, the only three colours in use among them. On one side of the canoe a log was attached as an outrigger, enabling the craft to live in a pretty heavy sea."

Concerning canoes seen at Rook Island, between the coast of New Guinea and New Britain, the Rev. James Chalmers wrote as follows: "We had many very fine canoes alongside. They are made something like those of Teste Island: a tree is dug out and then built on, only the upper sides are beautifully carved. They had two masts stepped like a V, with small mat sails. The outrigger was very large, and well away from the canoe. There was a platform in the centre, on which all the people sat, except those immediately required to steer. They sail well, and work splendidly to windward."

The same writer speaks of as many as fourteen or fifteen canoes being fastened together in returning from these trading voyages along the New Guinea coast. These raft-like craft, he remarks, are very cumbersome: "In rough weather they labour fearfully, and often they have to cut away all but two, in which they save their lives; sometimes they are never heard of."

Of a trading-craft of New Guinea F. Burnett wrote: "It consisted of three canoes, held firmly together by a bamboo platform, upon which was erected a large-sized house. Its length must have been at least forty feet, and yet I was informed that this was not considered a large specimen of its type…. They are strongly constructed crafts, well fitted, therefore … to make the long trading voyages for which they are used. Some of the larger ones, I am informed, accommodate as many as fifty men and women, besides children. These canoes are built by a tribe dwelling on the southern coast of New Guinea, for the purpose of enabling them to distribute the pottery they manufacture."