Linton — Tlic Marquesas Islands 313 



brief description of the manner of propulsion applies perfectly to the Tongan 

 method of sculling large craft. It would be practically impossible to build a boat 

 six feet wide and of the same depth on the lines of the built up canoes already 

 described, and it seems certain that these boats were made either of planks or of 

 many pieces. Plank canoes were used in the Society and Tuamoto groups and 

 the Marquesans could hardly have been ignorant of this form of boat. 



In a legend of the migration of one of the tribes of Hiva Oa, which was 

 driA'en out by its neighbors and went to seek new land, it is stated that they de- 

 parted on large bamboo rafts. The tribe in question lived on the plateau and were 

 said to have used these craft because they had no wood suitable for canoes. No 

 details as to the construction could be obtained. 



Porter (49, p. 103) says: 



"[The natives] use also occasionally a kind of catamaran, which they construct in a 

 few minutes, and a kind of surf board. . . . These, however, scarcely deserve to be enu- 

 merated among their vessels, as they are used chiefly by the boys and girls, and are intended 

 solely for paddling about the harbor." 



SAILS 



The aboriginal type of sail became obsolete at an early date and it is 

 doubtful whether any of the living natives have seen a genuine ancient sail. In- 

 formants insisted that they were like those in use at the present time except that 

 the boom sloped upward instead of being horizontal and that the sail itself was 

 made of coconut mats instead of canvas (pandanus mats were tapu for sails). 

 This agrees perfectly with the brief mention of Porter and the picture given by 

 Cook. Porter (49, pp. 102-103) says: 



Double canoes . . . are furnished with a triangular sail made of mat, similar to that 

 called a shoulder-of-mutton sail but placed in an inverted position, the hypothenuse forming the 

 foot of the sail, to which is secured a boom. 



The drawing published by Cook (14, p. 307) shows a single canoe provided 

 with a mast of rough timber and a triangular sail of matting along the lower edge 

 of which there is a boom also of rough timber. The boom is set at an angle of 

 about forty-five degrees, the apex of the triangular sail being at the juncture of 

 the boom and mast. The upper edge of the sail is concave, and the tips of the 

 mast and boom project for some distance beyond the fabric of the sail. The mast 

 is stayed by a rope running from a little below the masthead to the center of the 

 bow projection, and by three other ropes two of which run to the stern outrigger 

 crosspiece a short distance ovttside the gtmwales of the canoe, while the third is 

 attached to the crosspiece near its outer tip. In the picture the sail is directly 

 over the canoe, between the two inner sta}'s, a system impossible in practice. It 

 seems probable that the author placed it in this ])osition in order to better show 



[53] 



