SAIL FROM REDSCAR BAY. 59 



Both oars and paddles have lanceolate blades and 

 thick handles, without any attempt at ornament or 

 even neatness of design. 



The sail (of pandanus matting-) is a long* parallelo- 

 g-ram, twelve feet by three, its sides secured by tAvo 

 toug-h slender poles, between which it is stretched, 

 and which serve both as masts and ^^ards. In 

 making- sail one of the poles is shipped, two stays 

 from the centre leading" fore and aft are then set 

 up, after which the second pole is fixed and secured 

 by stays, so as to give the sail the requisite inclina- 

 tion. We frequently saw a second smaller sail set 

 before the first, at the distance of eig-ht or ten feet, 

 and manag-ed precisely in the same way, but, even 

 with both sails set, owing* to the disproportion 

 between the ^^ spread of canvas," and the bulk of 

 the canoe, the latter moves slowly at all times, and 

 on a wind makes much leeway. 



Dec. ^Ist. — We sailed yesterday from our an- 

 chorag'e in Eedscar Bay, but did not clear the sunken 

 ridge of coral in the offing* — a submarine exten- 

 sion of the Barrier Keef, stretching* between Low 

 Island and the vicinity of South-west Cape — until 

 this forenoon, when we g*ot out of sounding-s. The 

 Bramble is to remain behind for thi^ee or four weeks 

 upon the coast, to fill up various blanks in the 

 chart between this and Rossel Island, while we are 

 to make the best of our way to the Duchateau Is- 

 lands, to obtain a meridian distance, and thence 

 proceed direct to S^^dney. 



