Polynesian Seafaring and Navigation: Ocean Travel in Anutan Culture and Society

4. Canoes and Equipment

4 .,~~ . ..~~ CANOES AND EQUIPMENT lis Lewis (1972:249) properly points out, equipment and seamanship are distinct from navigation per se. They are, however, no less important to successful completion of a voyage. In this chapter, I discuss the objects upon which Anutans are dependent for their ocean travel; the following chapter is devoted to the question of how these objects are employed. The most essential piece of equipment for Oceanic seafaring, of course, is the canoe. Size, strength, speed, stability, and ease of repair of one's vessel are as important as a sailor's navigational ability in determining the likelihood of safe arrival at one's destination. Anutans distinguish several types of canoe. Their standard oceangoing single-outrigger vessels with covered bow and stern are called vaka pai manu {canoe after the design of birds' (plate 5). The carved bow and stern coverings are said to resemble a bird's head and tail (or, depending on one's perspective, two birds' heads), respectively. (The species is not identified.) Canoes of this type may vary considerably in size. Puinga, the island's largest canoe, is 32 feet in length, with a 26-inch beam and outside height of 40 inches from keel to gunwales. The inside height is 34 inches. By comparison, Taapurupuru is a canoe of intermediate length at 26 feet, with an outside height of 35 inches and an inside height of 30 inches from gunwales to bilge. The bow (mataavaka) and stern (taumuri) are distinct both terminologically and in design, in contrast with typical Micronesian construction (figure 7). The narrow, hollow ends are covered with small deck pieces (puke), several feet in length, on which one may sit while paddling or fishing. Small pieces of equipment, supplies, and freshly caught fish are stored underneath to be kept out of the way until they are needed. Small single-outrigger canoes without bow and stern covers are termed tovi (plate 6).1 A few such vessels exist on Anuta, but they rarely carry more than one or two paddlers and can only be used in the calmest weather. Under normal conditions, a canoe with low gunwales and no decking would quickly swamp in the surf when entering or exiting the island. Tovi, however, are quicker and easier to make than vaka pai manu, and the care put into construction of larger vessels is rarely lavished on the smaller ones. Therefore, when Anutans emigrate to Honiara or the Russell Islands, where time is precious and protected water plentiful, tovi are made in preference to the larger, more elaborate vaka pai manu. Tikopia, being larger than Anuta and enjoying better access to the open sea, does not have to deal with surf to the same extent. ThereCANDES AND EQUIPMENT Plate 5. Vaka pai manu, rigged with sail, viewed from starboard 33 34 POLYNESIAN SEAFARING AND NAVIGATION MATAAVAKA tBOW' ~ 11 12 13 14 15 TAUMURltSTERN' ~ Fig. 7. Side elevation of canoe hull, after sketch by Raymond Firth (personal communication 1982).Note manu 'bird design' of bow and stern. KEY 1. tiratiraamanu or tumutumuimanu 'bird's beak' 2. kauoae 'chin' 3. pakarakei 'decoration', known more specifically as pakataratara 'barbs', nga katei (no gloss), or pakaatutangata 'inthe way of men' or 'in the way of the lands of men' 4. paai manu 'bird's side' 5. taringa 'ear' 6. pakamatapiri 'bow shackle' for attaching forestay 7. pakamoengaapuke 'resting place for bow cover' 8. tua puke 'back of bow cover'; upper surface of tua puke is te nopoa 'sitting place' 9. kuru 'curved underside of tua puke' 10. uru tuuta 'shoulder against which bow cover fits' 11. ngutu 'mouth'; i.e., 'upper edge of gunwale' 12. te oa 0 te vaka 'upper hull, from center ridge to gunwale' 13. kau tuaaniu 'conconut leaf petiole '; i.e., 'center ridge or angle running longitudinally along hull exterior ' 14. te ora 0 te vaka 'the life of the canoe '; i.e., 'lower hull from center ridge to keel' 15. kau takere 'bottom stem'; i.e., 'keel', also called te pakaingano 16. rau ipi 'chestnut leaf, i.e., undercurve of bow and stern' fore, many Tikopian vessels are of the tovi type. In the Tikopian colonies on Vanikoro, Waimasi on Makira (San Cristobal Island), and in the Russell Islands, vaka pai manu are virtually nonexistent. Anutans do not draw a rigid distinction between sailing and paddling canoes. Any canoe with an outrigger, they say, can be rigged...