204 CANOES OF CORAL HAVEN DESCRIBED. 



the others paddle on the rig-ht or starboard side only. 

 The man seated at the stern closes with his body 

 the opening- between the ends of the raised g'unwale 

 and thus keeps out the spray or wash of the sea. 

 Still they require to bail frequently^ using* for this 

 purpose the larg-e shell of the Melo Uthiojnca, In 

 calms and lig-ht airs these canoes of Coral Haven 

 may be overtaken without difficulty by a fast- 

 pulling' ship's boat^ but on g'oing- to windward with 

 a moderate breeze and a little head sea they 

 appeared to have the advantag'e. The sails are 

 from twelve to fifteen feet in length and a yard 

 wide — made of coarse mattino- of the leaf of the 

 cocoa-nut tree stretched between two slender poles. 

 The mast is stepped with an outward inclination 

 into one of three or four holes in a narrow shifting- 

 board in the bottom of the canoe^ and is secured near 

 the top to a slender stick of similar leng-th made 

 fast to the outside part of the outrig-g-er 3 a second 

 pole is then erected stretching* diag'onally outwards 

 and secured to the outer one near its centre. Ag'ainst 

 the framework thus formed the sails are stuck up 

 on end side by side to the number of three or four^ 

 occasionally even ^ye^ and kept in their places by 

 long" sticks placed transversely^ their ends as well 

 as those of the mast being- sharpened to serve as 

 skewers which in the first instance secure the sails. 

 While under sail either the bow or stern of the 

 canoe may be foremost^ this being- reg-ulated by the 

 necessity of having- the outrig-g-er on the weather 

 side^ unless in a very lig'ht wind. From the sail 



