58 SINGLE AND DOUBLE CANOES. 



contracted in the middle j it is made of wood, 

 three-fourths of an inch thick, neatly covered with 

 jBne cane matting, fitting very tightly. 



The canoes seen here are either single or douhle, 

 in the latter case consisting merely of two lashed 

 together, usually without an outrigger. The single 

 canoes vary in length from 20 to 30 feet, and carry 

 from five to a dozen people. Each end tapers to a 

 sharp projecting point longer at the bow. The 

 outrigger fi'ame consists of five poles laid across the 

 gunwale in grooves, and the float, which is rather 

 less than half the length of the body of the canoe, 

 is secured to the ends of each by three pegs, a foot 

 in length. The opposite ends of the outrigger poles 

 project beyond the side only a few inches, and are 

 secured by lashing of cane to a piece crossing them ; 

 the gunwale is further strengthened by slender poles 

 running along it from end to end. A small portion 

 only of the outrigger frame is converted into a 

 platform by a few loose poles or a plank or two : 

 some of the latter were as much as two feet in 

 width, and only an inch in thickness, and must 

 have been cut with stone axes out of a log of wood. 

 The largest canoe seen was judged to be thirty-five 

 feet in length, with a width at the bow of fom* and 

 a half feet, but this far exceeded in bulk any of the 

 other single ones. like the rest it essentially 

 consisted of the hoUowed out trunk of a tree. All 

 the heavy canoes are pulled with oars, working in 

 cane gromets, the others are propelled with paddles. 



