620 



The crew of the Oro'u consists, at the minimum, of six; 

 men, of whom it takes three to look after the sail in rough 

 weather. One man can steer in fine weather, but it requires 

 two or three when it is rough, and one of the crew is sometimes 

 needed to use the J vara — a long pole used to push the boat off 

 the shore or off the reef in the case of traversing a narrow 

 passage. (^2) 



Besides the Oro'u, some natives of the district use smaller 

 double canoes, called Geho. These resemble the Oro'u, but 

 are only about half their size, less ornamented, and without 

 carved Biritsas. They are used for short journeys only. 



The Vaona — a kind of catamaran, or dug-out, with float — 

 is of the typical Papuan form. There are only a few pecu- 

 liarities about the attachment of the float to the outrigger,, 

 of which, however, I have not made a record. 



Very small dug-outs, used as playthings by boys, have- 

 been mentioned above (see chap, iii., sec. 4). 



Trading Expeditions. — The Or 6' lis were the means of 

 transport on water of Mailu, Lariioro, and Loii2)6rn. As a 

 matter of fact, however, as far as distant sailing was con- 

 cerned, they appear to have been a monopoly of the Mailu 

 islanders in the olden days. '53) Larnoro was a fairly recent 

 settlement, and neither it nor Louporn ever used the big canoes 

 for distant expeditions or trading voyages. They used them 

 in rough weather to reach their gardens on the mainland, 

 where a small dug-out would not have been safe. They alsa 

 made short coastal journeys to Dereha, Boreho, etc., but that 

 was all. The real trading and distant voyages of the district 

 were done exclusively by the Mailu islanders. 



It was necessary that these should be good sailors, as 

 they were obliged to import many commodities from abroad, 

 and even to cross from -Mailu to the mainland in rough weather 

 required a good deal of seacraft, as the channel is about five 

 miles in width and quite unsheltered from either the south- 

 eastern or north-western winds. On the other hand, the 

 short distance of less than a mile from T^oupom to the main- 

 land was fairly sheltered, especially in the south-eastern 

 season. 



(52) The platform of the Oro'u could be covered with a mat 

 roofing, and the boat was thus made into a sort of dwelling, habit- 

 able even in rainy weather, and affording protection against the 

 sun. The boat was used in this manner when beached on som.e 

 distant visit. The house-boat figured on pi. xxviii., fig. 1,. 

 remained thus beached and inhabited for weeks in Mailu village. 



(53) Domdra, in the west, may have been an exception. The- 

 Mailu also traded their canoes to the Aroma natives. 



