CHAPTER XVII.
A CANOE VOYAGE.
Our life in the town of Ramáka was for a time very much as it had been in the valley of Tivóli, except that the inhabitants were of a more active and warlike character, and their amusements were often of a more robust nature, canoe-sailing on the open sea, which was often attended with danger, being especially a favorite pastime. There were also torchlight fishing excursions to the reef at low tide. These sporting parties were full of life and animation, and the women, who played a prominent part in them, found abundant opportunity on these occasions to indulge their taste for gossip and scandal.
After a time, we heard of what was going on in Turtle Town, in the valley of Tivóli, the news coming filtered through intervening tribes. It was known that Lolóma and I had taken up our abode in Ramáka, and it seemed that Bent-Axe, who had great influence with Big-Wind, was determined that war should be made upon our city of refuge. We learned that since our departure from the valley, my rival had not only rigidly abstained from the dance, but had kept the exact half of his great head of hair cropped to remind him of his revenge, and had taken an oath never to drink the milk of the cocoanut out of the shell until he had compassed the death of the papalangi who had robbed him of his bride.
There was a general belief in Ramáka that war was imminent, and the townspeople were desirous of being first in the field. The priest having been consulted, found that war was near at hand, for during the last thunderstorm the lightning split many trees; and fruit trees, long known as barren, had lately been seen with ripe fruit on them, a phenomenon never heard of before without its having been speedily followed by the beating of the war drums and the clash of arms.
It was well known that there were other white men living at the little island of Bau, under the protection of Naulivou.[[15]] These white men were the first to introduce fire-arms into the country, and already, by virtue of this circumstance, the foundations of the future greatness of the kingdom of Bau had been laid. King Hot-Water was very anxious to obtain the aid of these white gods, or their weapons. Being very desirous of visiting Bau, which was two days sail by canoe from Ramáka, I undertook to accompany Hot-Water to that island, and assist him in the negotiation he had in view. We accordingly set sail one morning in Hot-Water’s best double canoe, with seventy natives as a retinue.
[15]. Grandfather of the late ex-King Thakombau.
A Fijian double canoe is a very wonderful piece of naval architecture. The single canoes are composed of two pieces hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, and joined together in the centre with marvellous exactness and security, considering the roughness of the Fijians’ tools, and that they have nothing stronger than sinnet to bind the wood with. The small single canoes, some of which are only 10 feet or 12 feet long, are propelled by sculling, but the large ones carry an immense mat sail. A double canoe is built by placing two large single canoes side by side, and bridging over the middle third of the hulk with a deck twice its own width, and raised on a deep plank built edgeways on each gunwale. The single canoe is balanced by a wooden frame or outrigger on one side, nearly as broad as the deck. All between the edge of the deck and the outrigger is open. The projecting ends of the canoe are boxed up, but the water washes in in the centre, and it is necessary when at sea to be constantly bailing.
In large canoes there is a house built on deck, with a sloping roof, under which the chief and the women of the party seek shelter in bad weather. The mat sail, which is very large in proportion to the canoe, is shaped something like a leg of mutton. It is hoisted on a mast by means of ropes, and when it is taken in, the mast comes down with it, and is laid horizontally on the deck. The mast is stepped in a chock at one end of the deck, and in order to ’bout ship it is necessary to unstep it and carry it to the other end, for the canoes cannot turn round. This is a very awkward arrangement, and men are often knocked overboard in unstepping the mast and attempting to carry it on their shoulders. If the man who has charge of the sheet does not slack away at once, when a sudden gust of wind takes the sail, the thama, or outrigger, is raised in the air, and the canoe capsizes; and unless the steersmen are careful to keep the sail on the weather side, the canoe will be swamped by the wind driving the sail against the mast, and forcing the outrigger under the water. The canoe is steered by a long oar, and when the sail is not up the vessel is propelled by vertical sculling, two men standing at one end of the deck and two at the other, throwing the full weight of their bodies on the sculls in a swinging motion from side to side.
The extreme length of one of these canoes is about 100 feet. A canoe that length would have a deck 46 feet long and 20 feet wide. The mast would be 62 feet high, the height from the keel to the house top 14 feet, and the draught of water 2 feet. Such a canoe would carry 100 persons and several tons of goods. The best of these canoes under a stiff breeze will travel over 10 miles an hour.
The construction of a canoe 60ft. or 70ft. long, occupies several years, and the completion of one is the occasion of great public rejoicings. It was the custom to launch new canoes upon the bodies of men used as rollers, and at every place which they visited upon their first voyage, fresh sacrifices took place, the victims being always eaten. The canoe builders are an hereditary caste, called “king’s carpenters.” These canoes, from their light draught of water, are well adapted to insular navigation, but they are not safe, for if a strong wind or heavy sea should suddenly arise, they become unmanageable, and are swamped. The natives never put to sea in them in bad weather, but they are often overtaken by it, and when out of swimming distance of the land, are drowned.