72 



rORTER's JOURNAL. 



ed as such as soon as the fort should be compieted, when 

 a salute should be fired on the occasion. 



The Indians, instructed and assisted by a few of my 

 people, levelled the top of the hill, the breastwork of water- 

 casks were formed and filled with dirt, suitable spaces being 

 left for embrasures, guns were landed from our prizes and 

 mounted, and on the 14th of the month our fort was com- 

 pleted, being calculated for mounting sixteen guns, but I 

 did not conceive it necessary at present to mount more 

 than four. All worked with zeal, and as the friendly tribes 

 were daily coming in with presents, all joined in the labour. 

 The chiefs requested that they might be admitted on the 

 same footing as the Taeehs, and every thing promised 

 harmony between us. They would frequently speak of 

 the war with the Typees, and 1 informed them 1 only 

 waited for their war canoes to be put together and launch- 

 ed. And now I am on the subject of war canoes, I must 

 break the chain of my narrative for the purpose of de- 

 scribing these vessels, as well as such others as are in use 

 among the natives. 



The war canoes of this island differ not much from those 

 already described as belonging to the natives of the island 

 of Ooahooga, or Jetferson's island. They are larger, more 

 splendid, and highly ornamented, but the construction is 

 the same, and like them they are furnished with outriggers. 

 They are about fifty feet in length, two feet in width, and 

 of a proportionate depth; they are formed of many pie- 

 ces, and each piece, and indeed each paddle, has its sepa- 

 rate proprietor. To one belongs the piece projecting from 

 the stern, to ariother the part forming the bow. The 

 pieces forming the sides belong to different persons, and 

 when a canoe is taken to pieces, the whole is scattered 

 throughout the valley, and divided, perhaps, among twenty 

 families. Each has the right of disposing of the part be- 

 longing to him, and when she is to be set up, every one 

 brings his piece, with materials for securing it. The setting 

 up of a war canoe goes on with the same order and regu- 

 larity as all their other operations. These canoes are 

 owned only among the wealthy and respectable families. 

 and are rarely used but for the purposes of war or for 

 pleasure, or when the chief persons of one tribe make a 

 visit to another. Tn such cases they are richly ornamented 



