Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/82

 58 FIJI AKD THE FIJIAI^S. lowing are the dimensions of the largest canoe I know. Its name was Biisa i vanua, " Perished inland," signifying that it would be impossible to launch it : — Extreme length, 118 ft. ; length of deck, 50 ft. ; width of deck, 24 ft. ; length of mast, 68 ft. ; length of yards, 90 ft. The measurement of another drua, the Zobi Jci Tonga, is as follows : — Length, 99 ft. 3 in. ; length of deck, 46 ft. 4 in. ; width of deck, 20 ft. 3 in. ; height from keel to housetop, 14 ft. ; draught of water, 2 ft, 6 in. ; length of mast, 62 ft. 3 in. ; length of yards, 83 ft. A good canoe in good condition makes very little water, and such as have been just described would safely convey a hundred persons, and several tons of goods, over a thousand miles of ocean. A queer thing, called ulatoha — a raised platform on two logs — and a catamaran made of bamboos, are used in the bays and rivers. The well built and excel- lently designed canoes of the Fijians were for a long time superior to those of any other islanders in the Pacific. Their neighbours, the Friendly Islanders, are more finished carpenters and bolder sailors, and used to build large canoes, but not equal to those of Fiji. Though considering the Fijians as their inferiors, yet the Tongans have adopted their canoes, and imitate them even in the make of their sails. This change was in process when Captain Cook first visited Tonga in 1772. The Fijians whom he saw there were probably the companions of Tui Hala Fatai, who had returned, a short time before, from Fiji in a canoe built by the people there, leaving in its place his own clumsy and hardly manageable togiaki. A glance at the new canoe convinced the shrewd Chiefs of Tonga that their own naval architecture was sadly at fault. Their togiaki, with its square, upright mast, the spars for stays, projecting like monster horns, the bevelled deck, the loose house, and its broad, flat ends, contrasted with the smart Fijian craft much as a coal barge with a clipper yacht. The togkiki was forthwith doomed to disuse, and is now seen no more among the fair isles of Tonga. Not the slightest change has been made in the model thus adopted, and which has now been used for more than a century by their best seamen. Another branch of Fijian manufacture is seen in their various weapons, to which reference has already been made. Most of the clubs are made in the house, but not all. The hau loa is preserved just as it comes from the woods, and one side of the waka is formed while the tree is growing, and requires attention for several months. The mada and the dromu are young trees, torn up by the roots, which are cut off nearly close, so as to form a knotty mace. Others are the result of days and weeks of patient toil. The handles of some, and the entire sur- face of others, are covered with fine and elaborate carving ; a few are in- laid with ivory and shell.