C H A P . X.
O f the Canoes and Navigation o f the Inhabitants o f New
Zealand; their Tillage, IVi-apons, and M u fc : Government,
Religion, and Language: W ith fame Reafins
agdinfl the Exifence o f a Southern Continent.
1770. r | H E ingenuity of thefe people appears in nothing more
-!rl ’ t J. than in their canoes: they are long and narrow, and
wo“ ‘ in ihape very much refemble a New England whale boat:
the larger fort feem to be built chiefly for war, and will
Carry from forty to eighty, or an hundred armed men. We
meafured one which lay afhore at Tolaga: fhe was fixty-
eight feet and an half long, five feet broad, and three feet
and an half deep y the bottom was iharp, with ftrait fides-
like a wedge, and confided o f three lengths, hollowed out
to about two inches, or an inch and an half thick, and well
fattened together with ftrong plaiting: each fide confillcd
of one intire plank, fixty-three feet long, 'ten or twelve
inches broad, and about an inch and quarter thick, and
thefe were fitted and laflied to the bottom part with great
dexterity and ftrength.. A confiderable number of thwarts^
were laid from, gunwale to gunwale, to which they were
fecurely lalhed on each fide, as a ftrCngthening. to the boat.
The ornament at the head projedted five or fix feet beyond
the body, and was about four feet and an half high; the
ornament at the ftern was fixed upon that end, as the ftern-
poft of a fhip is upon her keel, and was about fourteen feet,
high, two feet broad, and an inch and an half thick. They
g both,