150 CANOES. 



Tliey are similarly emploj'ed by the natives of the adjacent island of 

 Simbo, and of other islands in this part of the group. Often they 

 are double-headed, so that the little deity may keep a watchful look- 

 out astern as well as ahead ; and then they are placed on the tops of 

 the high beaks of the Faro canoes. Probably the Chinese custom of 

 painting eyes on the sides of the bows of the junks, and the similar 

 practice of the Maltese, in the case of their boats, may date back to 

 the little gods of wood that were attached to the bows and stems of 

 the canoes of their barbarous predecessors. The origin of the figure- 

 heads of our ships may })erha,ps be traced back to times of savagery 

 when a similar superstitious practice prevailed. 



" Dug-out" canoes are only to be found in the sheltered waters of 

 Treasury Harbour. They are from 16 to 18 feet long, are provided 

 with an outrigger, and are so narrow that the occupant sits on a 

 board placed on the gunwales with only his feet and legs inside the 

 canoe. In the quiet waters of the anchorage at Simbo, the natives 

 make use of a raft of poles lashed together somewhat after the 

 manner of a catamaran, such as I have seen on the coast of Formosa. 



A few remarks on the mode of paddling, and on the paddles 

 employed, may be here fitting. The long tapering blade,^ which is 

 in common use in the eastward islands, gives place in Bougainville 

 Straits to the oval and sub-circular blades. All the paddles which I 

 saw had cross-handles. Those used by the women of the Straits 

 are unusually light, more finished, and are sometimes decorated with 

 patterns in red and black. According to the length of the journey, 

 one or other of two styles of progression is adopted. In shoi-t 

 distances, they often proceed by a succession of spurts with a stroke 

 of GO and more to the minute, each spurt lasting a few minutes, and 

 being followed by a short interval of rest. In longer distances they 

 employ a slower stroke of from 40 to 50 to the minute, which is 

 varied by occasional spurts. On one occasion when taking a journey 

 of 12 miles in a war canoe, I was much struck with the different 

 kinds of strokes by which my crew of eighteen men varied their 

 exertions. The}' usually paddled along easily at about 50 strokes to 

 tlie minute : but every teri or fifteen minutes they began a series of 

 spurts, each spurt beginning with a short sharp stroke of about 60 

 to the minute, and passing into a slow strong stroke of about 28 to 

 the minute. After a succession of these spurts, which occupied 

 altogether about five minutes, they settled down again into their 



1 See illustration. 



