Fejee canoes.
“They are superior to those of other islands. They are generally double, and the largest are 100ft. in length; the two canoes are of different sizes, the smaller serving as an outrigger to the other, and are connected by beams on which a platform is laid, 15ft. wide, and extending 2ft. or 3ft. beyond the sides. The bottom of each canoe is a single plank; the sides are fitted to them by dovetailing and by lashings passed through flanges left on each piece; the joints are closed by the gum of the bread-fruit tree, which is also used for smearing them. They have a depth of hold of about 7ft., and the ends are decked for 20ft., to prevent their shipping seas. Amidships[B] they have a small thatched weather house, above which is a staging on which several people can sit. The canoes of the chiefs are much ornamented with shells. The sails are so large as to appear out of proportion with the vessel, and are of tough and pliable mats; the mast is half the length of the canoe, and is stepped on deck in a chock; the yard and boom are twice as long as the mast; the halyards are carried over a crescent on the mast-head, they are bent on to the yard at a distance from its tack or lower end nearly equal to the length of the mast. The natives manage these vessels very expertly; they require much skill in beating against the wind, for it is necessary that the outrigger should be always on the weather-side, as, if it gets to leeward, no vessel is so easily capsized; in tacking, therefore, the helm is put up instead of down, until the wind is brought abaft the beam, then the tack of the sail is carried to that end which was previously the stern, but which has now become the bow, and the canoe is steered from the other end; they carry sail even when it blows heavily, by sending men on the outrigger to counterbalance the force of the wind. The canoes are of logs hollowed and built upon; they make long sea-voyages, and are provisioned only with yams; they are ornamented with Cypræa-ovula shells, and carry white pennants; they carry water in cocoa-nut shells, and, with fire and an ‘ava’ bowl, are equipped for sea. The chief holds the end of the sheet, and it is his duty to prevent the canoe capsizing; the steer oar has a large blade. In smooth water they sail very swiftly, but the force of the sail strains them, and they leak badly, so that the men are constantly baling. The planks are kept in shape by small ribs as with us. The principal tool used is an adze, which is now made by lashing a European plane iron to a crooked handle; they are anxious to possess our tools, and especially the American axe. Their knives are made of bamboo, cut into form while it is still green; after being dried it is charred, which makes it very hard and sharp; a second charring, followed by grinding on a smooth stone, will even fit it for surgical operations.”
The balsas.
The balsas, at Guayaquil, as described by Sir E. Belcher, in his journal of the voyage of the “Sulphur,” are rafts of ten logs 14in. in diameter, and 60ft. long. The wood is a kind of bombax, called balsa wood, they bear fifteen or twenty tons independent of their crew, and bring fresh water down the river in jars of seven gallons each. Houses thirty or forty feet long, and twelve feet wide, are built on some of them, and families take passage or live permanently on board.
The balsas, at Arica, in Peru, are differently constructed; they are simply skins, stripped off the animal, with as little cutting as possible; the absolutely necessary incisions are then securely closed, the hides are inflated and allowed to dry and harden, and two being laid alongside each other a platform is laid across them, on which the cargo is kept sufficiently high above the spray or ripple, and brought dry ashore even through a heavy surf. Two ox-hides would make a very serviceable balsa, as would also a pair of the large seal, the sea-elephant, porpoise, or other marine animal of suitable size.
Cape waggon chests as rafts.
We will now endeavour to show how the chests that are usually carried in Cape waggons might be converted into a buoyant, roomy, and manageable raft. These chests are generally about three feet in length, and sixteen inches wide and deep; two of them, the fore and after chests, are indispensable, as the waggon cannot be kept in shape nor the cargo properly secured without them; sometimes more are carried, and others of smaller size are affixed to either side, but the objection to these is that in a densely-wooded country, stumps and stout branches are apt to catch the angles of the side chests, and damage or carry them away.
CAPE WAGGON BOXES SO FITTED AS TO BE AVAILABLE FOR A RAFT.