298 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bishop .^fiiscimi 



CANOES 



For convenience in description, IMarquesan canoes may be considered as of 

 two main classes, modern forms, all of which show more or less European in- 

 fluence; and ancient, or genuine, Marcjuesan forms. The modern canoes are of 

 two sorts, small fishing canoes and the form called by the natives z'aka poti (liter- 

 ally, canoe boat), which is a hybrid of the European boat and the native canoe. 

 Only two types of ancient canoe are remembered bv the present natives, a small 

 fishing canoe closely resembling the modern one, and a large war canoe. Double 

 canoes, as described by informants, cannot be said to constitute a distinct type. 

 Porter (49), who gives a very good account of the canoes used in Nuku Hiva at 

 the time of his visit in 1813, describes a third type, all memory of which seems to 

 have been lost. He also mentions a form of large double canoe used for long 

 voyages. 



MODERN CANOES 

 FISHING CANOES 



Small fishing canoes are still in constant use throughout the ^Marquesas. 

 Their structure and method of manufacture may be described as follows : 



Tliey range from twelve to eighteen feet in length with a beam of one foot to eighteen 

 inches and a depth of about eighteen inches. The body of the canoe is hewn from a single 

 log of breadfruit wood which is usually peeled and allowed to season for a time before shap- 

 ing, but the making of some canoes begins as soon as the tree is felled. The shaping of the 

 outside is completed before the excavation is begun. When the log has been roughly excavated 

 with an ordinary steel axe, a short handled adz with a semicircular cutting edge is used to 

 complete the dressing. The natives are remarkably expert in the use of these adzes, and the 

 cuts left by them are as regular as though made by machinery, even on surfaces that will later 

 be rubbed smooth. The outside of the canoe is rubbed down with sand paper after shaping initil 

 all the adz marks are obliterated. In the finished body, the sides are three-quarters of an inch to 

 an inch thick, and the bottoms are from an inch to an inch and a half thick. The sides run 

 parallel for most of the length, beginning to taper inward two to three feet from either end. 

 The bow and stern are indistinguishable, the bottom curving up for about one-third the depth 

 of the body and passing imperceptably into a straight cutwater. After the body is completed, 

 two holes are bored through each side directly opposite about two inches below the gunwale 

 edge and about three feet from the bow and from the stern. Roimd pieces of hard wood 

 about three-quarters of an inch in diameter and seven inches long are then driven through these 

 holes forming plugs which are used in the attachment of the outrigger. Two half-inch planks, 

 four to six inches in width, are then placed outside the body, their lower edges resting upon 

 the projecting plugs, and are gradually bent inward at either end. following the curve of the 

 body, until they meet at the bow and stern. The ends of these planks are sawn diagonally to 

 make the joint as tight as possible. These planks are nailed to the body of the canoe and to 

 each other. Small triangular pieces of plank, resting upon the top of the dugout underbody, 

 are usually inserted at bow and stern, forming a short deck at either end. Ordinary commer- 

 cial hard pine is used for these and for the side planks. No caulking is used; the joints be- 

 tween the body and the sides planks are sealed with several coats of paint. 



All canoes are provided with outriggers. The form now in use, which has replaced 

 the original form throughout the group, is known to be the invention of a mulatto who settled 

 in the valley of Tahuku, Hiva Oa, a few years ago. The rapid dissemination of this invention 



[38] 



