Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/313

Rh than the difference between the canoes of the natives when for the first time we passed from the New Hebrides and Banks' Islands to the Solomon Islands, and exchanged the clumsy outriggered tree-trunks of the Eastern groups for the elegant forms and brilliant ornaments of the plank-built craft of the West. But upon consideration, the outrigger canoe that sails must be thought to take a higher rank than

one propelled by paddles only; and certainly the outrigger canoe is the one characteristic of Melanesia. It is only in the Solomon Islands that plank-built canoes are seen; but there also small canoes with outriggers are used, and these are in fact the same with those of Santa Cruz, the Banks' Islands and the New Hebrides; all alike are hollowed trunks of trees with outriggers. Double canoes are nowhere seen in these