WAR CANOE. 
153 
and perpendicular; a rude imitation of the human 
head, or some other grotesque figure, was carved 
on the stern of each canoe. The stem, often ele¬ 
vated and curved like the neck of a swan, termi¬ 
nated in the carved figure of a bird’s head, and 
the whole was more solid and compact than the 
other vessels. In some of their canoes, and in the 
pahi among the rest, a rude sort of grating, made 
with the light but tough wood of the bread-fruit 
tree, covered the hull of the vessels, the intervening 
space between them, and projected a foot or eigh¬ 
teen inches over the outer edges. On this the 
rowers usually sat; and here the mariners, who 
attended to the sails, took their stations, and found 
it much more convenient and secure than standing 
on the narrow edges of the canoes, or the curved 
and circular beams that held them together. 
There was also a kind of platform in the front, 
or generally near the centre, on which the fight¬ 
ing men were stationed : these canoes were some¬ 
times sixty feet long, between three and four 
