No. 2 (1920) OUTRIGGER CANOES OF INDONESIA 77 



body of the boat. The general appearance of such a craft built 

 up with high matting bulwarks supported by numerous stanchions 

 and stays has a distinct resemblance to the much larger outrigger- 

 ships seen in the Buddhist sculptures of Boro-Budur in Java to be 

 referred to on a later page. 



Single outrigger canoes are sometimes seen, especially in 

 Manilla harbour, but these are local and are apparently so modi- 

 fied for ease in moving in and out of crowded harbour waters and 

 for convenience in carrying passengers between the shore and 

 ships at anchor. 



The Sitlit sub-type. — This design is most elaborate in detail and 

 the owners are lavish in its ornamentation. 



With differences in size and locality, there are as usual, minor 

 variations in the detail of the fittings ; for the present purpose we 

 shall take as the central type a medium-sized vtnta, as these boats 

 are called, capable of voyages extending to four and five-day trips 

 and much used on account of their speed in smuggling between 

 the Sulu Islands and British North Borneo (PI. VI, fig. X). 



The hull consists of a dugout (Samal-Moro dialect - dalamat), 

 the sides raised by means of two wash-strakes (tapi) sewn on with 

 coir yarn. The ends are bifid. The lower projection of the prow 

 (munda) is nearly horizontal ending sharply in ordinary canoe 

 fashion ; the upper projection has a wide cuneate board attached 

 to its upper edge, prolonging it upwards (PI. VI, fig. X); this 

 board (sangpad) is usually decorated with fringed cloth. The bifur- 

 cated stern (boli) is much more elaborate and shows great artistic 

 skill in the carving of the handsome pierced ornamentation (pansal) 

 of both the horizontal and the upwardly sloping branches. The 

 former is the true hinder end of the dugout and the edges are carved 

 out of the solid in an elegant conventional foliate design. 



The upper branch of the stern consists of two lateral and 

 slightly divergent wings of perforated woodwork, carved in a bold 

 foliate pattern, as shown in PI. VIII, fig. XIV. Strengthening trans- 

 verse bars or struts prevent these carved wings from being broken 

 (PI. VI, fig. XI). 



The outrigger frame consists of either three or four booms 

 directly attached to a bamboo float on each side of the canoe. 

 The forward and aft booms (batahgdn) are shaped from long poles 

 which pass through the canoe and have one end attached to the 

 port float and the other to the starboard one. The centre boom 

 (tarrik) or booms — there may be either one or two — are, on the 



