A Canoe is a boat used by savages, usually made of a trunk of a tree, hollowed.
A Felucca has two triangular sails, is used in the Mediterranean, and is particularly swift. It can also use oars in calm weather.
A Junk is a Chinese vessel, used either for war or merchandise, is built very heavily.
A Proa is used by the natives of the Ladrone Islands, and is remarkable for its swiftness and sailing close to the wind. The lee-side is quite straight, and the weather-side is convex, like a common boat. Both head and stern are equally sharp; and in working her there is no necessity to tack or turn at any time. Besides this peculiarity of construction, the proa has on her lee-side what is called an “out-rigger,” which is made of two poles, extending about 10 feet from her side, having at their extremity a piece of solid wood. This prevents her from having any lee-way. She will sail with a good wind twenty miles an hour.
The natives of the Society Islands use a canoe, averaging in length from ten to forty feet. It is made of a trunk of a tree, hollowed out; and is just wide enough for a person to sit down. It will carry from one to as many as thirty persons. It also has an outrigger, like a proa. When a native leaves one island to go to another, he joins two large canoes together, and builds on them a small hut, which will hold all his family. This is the most convenient way to travel in a canoe, for it is difficult to see anything but one’s knees when sitting down in the ordinary manner. These canoes carry a square sail in the fore-part.
We will now speak of the vessels we have most to do with—viz. yachts.