286 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



fame diftance. On the oppofite fide is another 

 outrigger, which does not dip into the water, 

 and which is two meters and a half in length : 

 it ferves to fteady the fail ; the chief fits on it 

 fometimes, but he moil commonly remains on a 

 platform made like a grating, which covers the 

 whole extent of the upper part of the outrigger. 

 The fail is made of matting, and has the re- 

 gular fhape of a fquare, the fides of which are 

 four meters in length : two cylindrical fpars of 

 the lame dimenlions, and by which it is bor- 

 dered on the two oppofite fides, fupply the place 

 of a yard. When this fail is trimmed for going 

 on a wind, one of its diagonals is always fitu- 

 ated vertically, and one of its angles extends up- 

 wards of a meter beyond the height of the mafr, 

 which is fix meters long. The wind operates 

 powerfully on fo taunt a fail, and gives to thefc 

 canoes an impulfe, which makes them divide the 

 water with aftoniihing rapidity. 



Sometimes ihefo forages, when they with to 

 go flowly, do not make ufe of their mafts; they 

 then raife to the height of about a meter and a 

 half, in a horizontal pofition, one of the fides of 

 th< ir (ail, while the remainder is ftowed on the 

 canoe; but, in this manner, they (an fail only 

 In tore the wind. 



Their paddles are very broad in the blade, 

 and have a handle about two meters long. They 



ufe 



