Report No. 2 (J 920). 



THE 



OUTRIGGER CANOES OF INDONESIA 



BY 



JAMES HORNELL, F.L.S., F.R.A.I., 

 Director of Fisheries. 



Until now no adequate and connected account of the many 

 varieties of the outrigger boats and canoes in use in Indonesia has 

 been published ; those of Polynesia and Micronesia are fairly well 

 described, partly in the accounts left by old voyagers, partly in 

 papers published by the United States Fish Commission, while 

 those of Torres Straits have been minutely monographed by Prof. 

 A. C. Haddon. A recent visit to the Dutch East Indies gave me 

 opportunity to gather details of all the important types found in 

 this region ; the following is a summary of the peculiarities of the 

 chief local variations evolved from the fundamental design. 



Unlike the outriggers of Polynesia and of India and Ceylon, 

 those of Indonesia are of the double type with few and unimport- 

 ant exceptions. Their effective range extends from the north- 

 western coast of New Guinea through the whole of the Moluccas 

 and Celebes, thence north to the Philippines and south to Lombok, 

 Bali, Madura and the eastern section of Java. Few are seen on the 

 east coast of Borneo and none on the eastern shores of Sumatra. 

 The western coast of Sumatra, and the islands east of Lombok 

 (Sumbawa, Flores, Timor and Timorlaut) were not visited; there is 

 no doubt, however, that double outriggers were formerly in general 

 use in western Sumatra and still persist in rapidly decreasing 

 numbers. 



NEW GUINEA (N.-W. COAST AND SCHOUTEN 



ISLANDS). 



The varieties in use in the extreme east, being the most primi- 

 tive in design, I shall commence this detailed description with an 



