Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/299

1770 the face of a man with a monstrous tongue, whose eyes were generally inlaid with a kind of shell like mother-of-pearl; but the larger sort, which seemed to be intended for war, were really magnificently adorned. The head was formed by a plank projecting about three feet before the canoe, and on the stern stood another, proportioned to the size of the canoe, from ten to eighteen feet high. Both these were richly carved with open work, and covered with loose fringes of black feathers that had a most graceful effect. The gunnel boards were often also carved in grotesque taste, and ornamented with white feathers in bunches placed upon a black ground at certain intervals. They sometimes joined two small canoes together, and now and then made use of an outrigger, as is practised in the islands, but this was more common to the southward.

In managing these canoes, at least in paddling them, they are very expert. In one I counted sixteen paddlers on a side, and never did men, I believe, keep better time with their strokes, driving on the boat with immense velocity. Their paddles are often ornamented with carving, the blade is of an oval shape pointed towards the bottom, broadest in the middle, and again sloping towards the handle, which is about four feet long, the whole being generally about six feet in length, more or less. In sailing they are not so expert; we very seldom saw them make use of sails, and indeed never, unless they were to go right before the wind. They were made of mat, and instead of a mast were hoisted upon two sticks, which were fastened one to each side, so that they required two ropes which answered the purpose of sheets, and were fastened to the tops of these sticks. In this clumsy manner they sailed with a good deal of swiftness, and were steered by two men who sat in the stern, each with a paddle in his hand. I shall set down the dimensions of one which we measured, that was of the largest size. It was in length 68½ feet, breadth 5 feet, depth 3½ feet. This was the only one we measured, or indeed had an opportunity of measuring.

Of the beauty of their carving in general I would fain