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New Zealand (continued)
pieces ^hollow'd out to about 2 inches or an inch and a half thick and well fasten'd together with strong plating each side consisted of one plank only which was 63 feet long and 10 or 12 Inches broad and about an inch and a quarter thick, and these were well feted and lash'd to the bottom part there were a number of Thwarts laid across and lashed to each gunel as a strengthening to the boat. The head orament ^projected was 5 or 6 feet ^without the body of the Boat and was 4½ feet high, the stern orament was 14 feet high, about 2 feet broad and about an 1½ Inch thick it was fix'd upon the Stern of the Canoe like the Stern post of a Ship upon the her keel. The oraments of both head and stern and the two side boards were of carved work and in my opinion neither ill designd nor executed. all their Canoes are built after this plan and few are less than 20 feet long - some of the small ones we have seen with out-riggers but this is not common - In their war Canoes they generaly have a quantity of birds feathers hung in strings and tied about the head and stern - as an additional orament; the head oraments of their canoes vary they are as various in the heads of their canoes as we are in those of our shipping but what is most common are is an od design'd figures of a man with as ugly a face as can be conceved, a very large tongue sticking out of his mouth and large white eys made of the Shells of sea ears - There paddle[s] are small light and neatly made they hardly ever make use of sails at least that we saw and those they have are but ill contrived
© Transcribed from National Library of Australia Manuscript 1 page 213, 2004
Published by South Seas
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/cook_remarks-062
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