302 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Bishop Musciiiii 



accounts and the fragmentary examples surviving in various parts of the group, 

 it is possible accurately to reproduce the type. 



Four species of wood were used for the large canoes iin'o (Tlicsf^csia popid- 

 nca), temanu {Calophyllum iuophylliini) . hveadiruit, and hutu (Barringfania 

 spcciosa). The hutu was considered least desirable. Mia was rarely used, as 

 large trees of this species were rare and the wood was in great demand for other 

 purposes. Breadfruit wood was usually used for the smaller and poorer boats, 

 while the best craft were made of temanu. Even at the present time there is some 

 verv large timber in the INIarquesas (one temanu tree over ten feet in diameter 

 was seen ) but there is no native tree which produces a long straight stick at all 

 comparable to the New Zealand kauri, and in very large canoes it was usually 

 necessary to make the underbody in two or more sections which were dovetailed 

 together. 



Before the introduction of metal very large trees were felled with tire, but 

 the shaping and hollowing appears to have been done entirely with tools. From a 

 chant collected by Handy (personal communication) the tree appears to have been 

 stripped of its bark and possibly of its branches before felling. The shaping 

 was begun as soon as the tree was felled, the green wood being tougher and 

 more easilv worked. The tools used were stone adzes of various sorts, chisels 

 and rubbing stones. (See chapter on Stone Artifacts.) 



The building of large canoes was in the hands of tuhuna (skilled workmen) 

 who merelv supervised the work, leaving the actual labor to the friends and rel- 

 atives of the owner. According to informants in Pua Ma'u, Hiva Oa, four hun- 

 dred men (probably an exaggeration), under the direction of four tulinna, were 

 employed upon the last war canoe built there. The work was all done at the place 

 where the tree had been felled, which in this case was high up the vallev. Here a 

 large decorated house was built for the workmen, who lived there with the direct- 

 ing fiihiiiia and were fed by the chief for whom the canoe was made. Twenty 

 men are said to have been required to gather the food. The place was tapu to 

 women and to all natives from other valleys. According to an informant from 

 another valley some famous warrior slept in the unfinished canoe body every night 

 in order that his mana might strengthen the wood and keep it from splitting. 

 The completed canoe was carried down to the beach, probably in sections, and 

 launched. [For an account of the ceremonies attending canoe building and 

 launching see Handy (32)]. In Pua i\Ia'u the war canoes were kept assembled in 

 special houses at the beach. These houses were undecorated and appear to have 

 had no ceremonial significance beyond the fact that they were tapu to women. 

 Each war canoe was named, a new canoe was gi\'en the name of a former one 



[42] 



