Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/80

56 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. The tahilai is a link between the camakau and drua^ and is made with the outrigger of either. It is often of great length, several feet at each end being solid wood, cut away something like the hull of a ship stern- ward, the stern-post of the ship representing the cut- water of the canoe, which, instead of being sharp, presents a square perpendicular edge to the water. Tliis is the same at both ends, and is the distinctive of the class. The drua^ or double canoe, differs from the rest in having another smaller canoe for its outrigger, and the deck is laid across both. When not more than thirty or forty feet long, canoes are often cut out of a single tree, and require comparatively little skill in their con- struction. When, however, a first-class canoe is to be built, the case is far otherwise, and its creditable completion is a cause of great triumph. A keel is laid in two or three pieces carefully scarfed together. From this the sides are built up, without ribs, in a number of pieces varying in length from three to twenty feet. Tlie edge of each piece has on the inside a flange ; as the large pieces are worked in, openings of very irregular form are left to be filled in, as suitable pieces may be found. When it is recollected that the edges of the planks are by no means straight, it will be seen that considerable skill is required in securing neat joints ; yet the native carpenters efiect this with surprising success. After the edges are fitted together, holes of about three-eighths of an inch in diameter are bored a hand-breadth apart in them, having an oblique direction inwards, so as to have their outlet in the flange : the holes in the edge of the opposite board are made to answer these exactly. A white pitch from the bread-fruit tree, prepared with an extract from the cocoa-nut kernel, is spread imiformly on both edges, and over this a strip of fine masi is laid, which is burnt through with a small fire-stick where it covers the holes. The piece or vo)xo is now ready for fixing, which is done by what is commonly but wrongly called " sewing : " the native word better describes the process, and means, " to bind" The vono being lifted to its place, well plaited but not large sinnet is passed through the hole in the top flange, so as to come out through the lower one : the end is then inserted in the sinnet further on, and the sinnet run rapidly through the hole, until eight or twelve loose turns are taken : the inserted end is then sought and laid on the round projection formed by the united flanges, and fastened there by drawing one turn of the sumet tightly over it ; the other turns are then tightened, the last but one being made a tie to the last. The spare sinnet is now cut off close, and the operation repeated at the next hole. The bindings, already very strong, have their power increased by fine wedges of hard