304 Memoirs Bcniicc P. Ilisliop Museum 



The rim of the uiiderliody was flat and straight throughout its length, except for the last 

 six feet of the stern where the walls of the undcrbody were thickened to form a longitudinal 

 ridge about two inches below the upper edge. (See PL xlii. J.) The lower part of this ridge 

 curved smoothly into the contour of the bottom, while the upper jiart ran back in a flat bevel 

 at an angle of about 40 degrees to the line of the outer edge of the flat rim. The bow and 

 stern of all underbodies appear to have been finished in this way. The tip of the underbody 

 was cut sc|uarely across, and the outside was flat and vertical. The rim was somewhat broader 

 here than along the sides and had, in the center of its interior surface, a broad, rounded 

 point, left at the time of its excavation. This feature is shown in small canoe models, and both 

 the bows and stern of underbodies were probably finished in this way. The projection cor- 

 responded to a similar projection on the under surface of the stern and bow pieces, and no doubt 

 helped to strengthen and make rigid their juncture with the underbody. 



The inner end of the canoe section observed at Hakaui was especially interesting as it 

 showed the method of finishing a joint. The bottom was cut squarely across, and had no holes 

 for lashings. The sides were cut back for a distance of two feet, the lower edge of the cut 

 sloping upward gradually until its perpendicular inner end was only eight inches high. The 

 surfaces of the side cuts were beveled,, running to a thin edge on the inside, and were pierced 

 with triangular holes for lashings. (See PI. x1.11, B.) 



A row of similar holes was pierced through either side of the underbody about an 

 inch below the rim. There were no holes at the ends. The lashing holes were an inch and 

 a half in width and approximately an inch in depth, the base of the triangle being upward, and 

 were placed at intervals of five to six inches. 



.\long each side of the section there was a row of three small projections which had 

 been left at the time the canoe was hollowed out. These projections were six inches wide and five 

 and a half inches high, the upper edges were two inches below the rim of the underbody. 

 They had been carved into the form of squat human figures with tlisproportionately large 

 heads, but the details had been ])ractically obliterated. The projections were arranged in pairs, 

 facing each other ; the interval between pairs was 9 feet, 1 1 inches. The natives could give no 

 information as to their purpose, but it seems certain that they served as supports for thwarts 

 or seats. The complete underbody had no projections of this sort and these projections do not 

 appear in any of the models studied. 



Both imdcrbodies A\'ere made of teniaiiu wood and had been carefully 

 rubbed down inside and out, obhterating- all tool marks and giving the surface 

 a finish as smooth as that of an ordinary bowl. 



The Bow Pieci; 



So far as known no bow pieces of Marquesan built up canoes have sur- 

 vived but excellent descriptions which check up with the accounts of early voy- 

 agers and the old canoe models were obtained from informants. 



In a canoe with a forty-foot underbody the bow piece would be about fourteen feet long. 

 Its shape (difficult to describe) can be seen from the accompanying photograph of a section of 

 an old and apparently very accurate canoe model (PI. xuni, A). For the sake of convenience 

 in description the bow piece may be divided into three parts, the deck, the neck and the figure- 

 head. The deck was the rearmost section, which was enclosed between the ends of the side 

 ]ilanks and bounded in front by a transverse flange, the breakwater, which kept head seas 

 from entering the canoe. The deck of the bow piece was of the same width as the under- 

 body, with a flat upper surface and vertical sides. The under surface was deeply hollowed, the 

 lower edges being of the same width as the sides of the underbody upon which they rested. 

 Triangular lashing holes were pierced through the sides a short distance above the lower edge, 



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