The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-08

did not care lit gave me breadth of
beam. as it were, tina. the other
canoes did not possess. The res 1t
full v proved that ] was right, mas
much a. we did not tip over. If we
had, we should have spilled out an
awful amount of water, for, as the
canoe was dug out of some soft wood,
il leaked fearfully. There was
'bailer" floating about in the Canoe,
about the size and shape OF Il wooden
s06ot, with q bar across the middle,
buI as I had no more hands besides
the two holding down the sides Of the
canoe, and the native couldn't paddle
aud ball at the same time the utensil
was Of no particular use, except that
It suggested the idea Of jOliy.boat
to which / might take if the capoe
actually sunk.
That canoe was by no means fair
sample of those found i'm the group,
though none that ] saw were as well
male as those of the Gilbert Islands.
There was one style, however, that
was admirably adapted to the carrying
| 0f large loads. In these the hull was
followed out from q large log, some
times forty feet in length, both how
| and stem tapering to long point,
the extreme ends being left solid.
| Tie sides on the edge of the hOllow wed
out part were then III ised by having
q thin plank some ten inches high
laced on with cOcoauut fibre cords,
the boards not standing upright, hut
leaning outward. AT both ends the
top edges of these pIahks were round
| ed down to meet the hull at the COM
mencement of the solid portion of the
ends.
On the edges of these planks was
| fastened a box with sides two feet
high, but without top nr bottom, in
such a manner as to form all nIlong
space about 80 feet long and feet
wide, with a depth extending to the
hOttOm of the hull inside. To pre-
| vent upseiting,a numher of poles were
dashed across the box. and on the out
| side ends of these, on one side, as
they project some twenty feet be-
| yOnd the boat was fastened log of
light wood that acted as a float or
q cOunter-balance, according az the
canoe was ON one tack or the other.
While / WAS ashore the Julia's
boats had been Of cruising for labor
and had returned towards uigItfall
with couple of young men who,
like Lord Lowell, wish to go.
Strange countries for to sea-
They were guiltless of clothing
when they arrived on board, and
were immediately endued with
breeches and shirts, and were, in con-
sequence very rigid and hel less. In
this state they reminded us of the re-
cruits the whale ships used to obtain
at the Care de Verde islands years
ago. When once enticed on b, ard
they were presented with stout sea
boots, which they immediately
hauled nn aud were at once helpless.
They cOnid not walk in them, and
they would not Ia Ike them off, and sO
l
whaling.
Muna island is only separated from
Mele hy narrow shallow passage
just ava h at low tide. In fact, one
can more properly say that the two
islands are joined toy IA sunken reef ON
which the Sea breaks at all times.
FlIe rounded summit of MeIe is peru
II i,r in that it is lenuded of vegeta :
ton, Il large, bald patch o. red soil
covering it. Beyond Mele (caIleti
also Hiuchinbrnok) is the little
island of Mau, where it Was reported
there were some hOys who wanted tn
go abroad, and so the boats went
around between Mele and Vote To get
them. My boat, the crooked canoe,
was alongside, and l noted with sat
isfactiOn that the owner had brought
his son along To bail. The old man
had been to Queensland and on
board of vessels good deal
and had acquired quite knowl-
edge of sea terms (indeed, he
privately Informed me that he asa bed
all same fella cap'n Queen>lan' ship,
AND it was quite amusing To see him
strut to the side of the Julia, glance
down into his canoe and hear him
bawl out "Paump ship thai, you tel.
lah- boy" whenever he saw that the
aforesaid boy was not welding the
hailer. Pretty soon we went ashore
and on the way thiiher lie asked me-
"What name! yOu come long ship ~
LET ME explain right here that the
expression "What nane! means
about the same as al say" or "By
the way" in AN interjectory manner
SD the question he asks is "By the
way, what are yOu doing i'm the
ship" He sees that 1 am not a Gov.
ermment agent, nor captain, cook,
sailor or mate. So I explained to
him that was "hoctor," for which
glazing faIsehood was properly pun
ished during the day by having
shown me, for cure, mind you, all the
ailimg people within reach, and be-
fore / was through / found it was not
a doctor that was wanted SD much as