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The three voyages of Captain James Cook round the world ...
The three voyages of Captain James Cook round the world Author:James Cook Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. X. Of The Canoes And Navigation Of The Inhabitants Of New Zealand: Their Tillage, Weapons, And Music: Government, Religion, And Language: With Some Reas... more »ons Against The Existence Of A Southern ConTINENT. I He ingenuity of these people appears in nothing more than in their canoes : they are long and narrow, and in shape very much resemblo a New England whale-boat: the larger sort seem to be built chiefly for war, and will carry from forty to eighty, or an hundred armed men. We measured one which lay ashore at Tolaga: she was sixty-eight feet and a half long, five feet broad, and three feet and a half deep ; the bottom was sharp, with straight sides like a wedge, and consisted of three lengths, hollowed out to about two inches, or an inch and a half thick, and well fastened together with strong plaiting: each side consisted of one entire plank, sixty-three feet long, ten or twelve inches broad, and about an inch and quarter thick, and these were fitted and lashed to the bottom part with great dexterity and strength. A considerable number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to which they were securely lashed on each side, as a strengthening to the boat. The ornament at the head projected five or six feet beyond the body, and was about four feet and a half high ; the ornament at the stern was fixed upon that end, as the stern- post of a ship is upon her keel, and was about fourteen feet high, two feet broad, and an inch and a half thick. They both consisted of boards of carved work, of which the design was much better than the execution. All their canoes, except a few at VOL. II. E Opoorage or Mercury Bay, which were of one piece, and hollowed by fire, are built after this plan, and few are less than twenty feet long: some of the smaller sort have outriggers...« less