CANOES 79 



spars bound end to end with rattan, and ornamented at intervals 

 with bunches of palm leaves. These the natives call kanaia : 

 they have, we were told repeatedly, no superstitious significance ; 

 one is put up for each inhabited house in the village, and 

 renewed periodically.* 



Landing at the village {niatai) is easy, for below the water- 

 level the sandy shore slopes downwards at an angle of 45°, a 

 condition made possible by the tranquility of the harbour water. 

 The houses, {jt'gi) are less solidly built than those of Kar 

 Nicobar, possess a small side-wall about 4 feet high, of boards, 

 and a pointed finial crowning the conical roof; but do not have 

 the protective discs on the supports : the door, too, and a number 

 of small windows open in the sides, and the latter are all supplied 

 with shutters that swing freely on a wooden hinge. 



A new and very large canoe was lying on the beach, the 

 dug-out portion, without additions, measuring 42 feet long by 

 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The hull was charred, and decorated 

 by grooved bands running at short intervals from gunwale to 

 gunwale round the outside. Canoes are fitted, according to 

 size, with from one to four short bamboo masts, each supported 

 by four wide-spreading stays of rattan, and on these are hoisted 

 lateen sails with a short tack of about 12 inches, made of cotton 

 ■or pandanus leaves. The masts are never stepped on the floor 

 of the canoe, but always on one of the crossbars or thwarts. 



The people about the village were feeding their dogs and 

 pigs with a kind of gruel in wooden troughs, and as the animals 



* Dr Scherzer {Cruise of the '■'■ Novara") states that they were used for 

 frightening away the devil and driving him into the sea. Cf., however, the 

 M a-ya-kuv-ka-via-ka of the Kar Nicobarese (p. 295) ; and also an old Kar 

 Nicobarese custom : " In every village there is a high pole erected, with long 

 strings of rattan hanging from it, which it is said has virtue to keep the devil at 

 a distance" (Hamilton, Asiatic Researches^ vol. ii.). On the other hand, 

 Colebrooke {Asiatic Researches, vol. iv.), writes : " In front of the villages, and 

 a little advanced in the water, they plant beacons of a great height, which they 

 adorn with tufts made of grass or the bark of some tree. These objects are 

 discernible at a great distance, and are intended probably as landmarks ; their 

 ■houses, which are overshadowed by thick groves of coconut trees, seldom being 

 visible from afar." 



