POLYNESIAN' RESEARCHES. 
181 
child still at her breast. I immediately climbed upon the 
caiioe^ and raised her so far out of the water^ as to allow 
the little boy to breathe^ till a small canoe came off to 
our assistance^ into which she was taken^ when I swam 
to the shore^ grateful for the deliverance we had. expe¬ 
rienced. 
It was not far from the beach where this occurred^ yet 
the water was deep^ and several articles which we had in 
the canoe^ were seen the next day lying at the bottom^ 
among coral and sand^ seventeen or eighteen fathoms 
below the surface. Accidents of this kind^ however^ 
occur but seldom | and though we have made many voy- 
ages^ this is the only occasion on which we have been 
in danger. 
The natives of the eastern isles frequently come down 
to the Society Islands in large double canoes^ which the 
Tahitians dignify with the name of the term for 
a ship. They are built with much smaller pieces of 
wood than those employed in the structure of the Tahi¬ 
tian canoes^ as the low coralline islands produce but 
very small kinds of timber^ yet they are much superior 
both for strength^ convenience^ and sustaining a tempest 
at sea. They are always double^ and one canoe has a 
permanent covered residence for the crew. The two 
masts are also stationary^ and a kind of ladder^ or 
wooden shroud^ extends from the sides to the head of 
the mast. The sails are large^ and made with fine 
matting. Several of the principal chiefs possess a pahi 
paumotUj which they use as a more safe and convenient 
mode of conveyance than their own canoes. One canoe^ 
that brought over a chief from Rurutu, upwards of three 
hundred miles^ was very large. It was somewhat in the 
shape of a crescent, the stem and stern high and pointed. 
