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Samoan Material Culture
The Medium Dugout Canoe
The Medium Dugout Canoe
The soatau is hollowed out of a longer section of tree trunk than the paopao, and is provided with a longer float and an extra outrigger boom. Top-sides, bow and stern covers are not added. The general lines of the bow are similar to the paopao but the stern is wider and cut square across without the hauling knob characteristic of the paopao. A full sized paopao figured by Kramer (18, vol. 2, p. 246) features the square stern and also the divergence of the connecting pegs towards the float. (See fig. 222.)
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Figure 222.—Soatau dugout canoe, stern end:
1, square stern, no hauling knob; 2, aft boom; 3, two pairs connecting pegs, widely divergent lower ends, upper ends crossed over boom; 4, longitudinal pole lashed to booms to inner side of connecting peg lashings (after Kramer).
A model in Bishop Museum (Pl. XXXVIII, B), shows a more sloping stern but the divergence of the lower ends of the connecting pegs is present. The connecting pegs are in two pairs but their lower ends are more widely apart in the long axis of the float than they are in the paopao. The upper edges of the sides are provided with inner flanges under which the lashings of the straight booms pass. The float is cut off square close behind the aft connecting pegs, while the fore end reaches the level of the bow. Longitudinal poles are attached to the outer ends of the booms close to the lashings of the connecting pegs. A complimentary lashing to the connecting pegs was also used. The only soatau seen was at Upolu.