312 Mciiioiis Bcniicc P. Bisliol^ Miiscimi 



were temporarily fastened in pairs. They were fastened together Ijy heavy poles, 

 corresponding in position to tlie crosspieces of tlie outrigger. The space between 

 the canoes was covered with a teniporar\- phitfonn. In some stories mention is 

 made of a raiUng around this platform. (Handy, personal correspondence.) 

 Double canoes of this sort were used for inter-island trips and for long fishing trijis, 

 when the crew expected to be away for several days. Double canoes, made from 

 fishing canoes, are said to have accompanied the war canoes on long raids to carry 

 supplies. 



Porter (49, pp. 102-103) nientions still another type of craft which is so re- 

 markable that it seems best to give the quotation in full. He says: 



Their fishing canoes are vessels of a larger and fuller construction, many of them being 

 six feet in width and of an equal depth. They are managed with paddles more resembling 

 an oar, and are, in some measure, used as such, but in a perpendicular position, the fulcrum 

 resting on the outriggers projecting from each side. With these they proceed to the small 

 bays on the coast, where they fish with the scoop net and with the hook and line. . . . The 

 canoes used for the purpose of navigating from one island to another, a navigation very 

 common, are similar in their construction to the larger kind of fishing canoes, and are secured 

 two together by beams lashed across. These are called double canoes and are furnished with a 

 triangular sail made of mat. . . . These are also worked during a calm with paddles and ap- 

 pear capable of resisting the sea for a long time. The canoes formed for the sole purpose of 

 going in search of new lands are of a still larger construction, and are rigged in the same 

 manner. 



No other author mentions craft of this large type but the quotation just given is 

 precedetl by a detailed and accurate account of the built up canoes and, except 

 for a tendency to exaggerate dimensions. Porter's accounts of material culture 

 seem to be thoroughlv trustworthy. It seems certain that at the time of his visit 

 the Marquesans had some vessel of much larger size than the built up canoe 

 and differing from it in construction. 



Informants made no mention of craft of this sort, and the type probal)ly 

 became extinct at an early time. Even at the time of Porter's visit the natives 

 had had considerable contact with Europeans, and there were white sailors 

 settled among them. They are, as a race, quick to see the advantages of 

 mechanical improvements, and the rapid adoption of the ])resent tvpe of out- 

 rigger shows the speed with which a new idea may spread among them. They 

 had undoubtedly seen many ships' boats, and it is quite possible that they had 

 already developed a hyl)rid form intended to embody the advantages of both 

 ships' boat and canoe. We have seen that in 1838, twentv-five vears after 

 Porter's visit, whale boats had supplanted most of the large canoes, so that the 

 life of the new type would have been short. 



On the other hand, Porter specifically says that the large double canoes 

 were of this type, a strong evidence that it was pre-European. Moreover, his 



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