HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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veying no imperfect idea of those built in every other part of the same quarterof the world.

The marine of the Southern Ocean may be divided into two classes, thesingle and the double canoes. Many of the islands or countries, it is to beobserved, rather in partial contradiction of the remark just made, seem tohave confined themselves principally, if not totally, to the use of the former;which are sometimes constru&ed so large as to excite admiration, bordering ondisbelief, of the accounts given of them, were they not established by testimonytoo honourable to be doubted for a single moment. The highest rank of geniusand mechanical ability, appears to be possessed by the inhabitants of twoextensive islands, to which, in modern times, the name of New Zealand hasbeen attached; and the description given of their marine in the voyage madeby captain Cook, in the year 1769, is most interesting and animated: thoughconcise, it is sufficiently particular to convey a perfect idea, not only of thevessels themselves, but of the methods adopted in putting them together.

“ The ingenuity of these people,” says the celebrated navigator, “ appearsin nothing more than in their canoes; they are long and narrow, and in shapevery much resemble a New England whale-boat ; the larger sort seem to bebuilt chiefly for war, and will carry from forty to eighty, or an hundred armedmen. We measured one which lay ashore at Tolaga ; she was sixty-eight feetand an half long, five feet broad, and three feet and an half deep; the bottom wassharp, with strait sides like a wedge, and consisted of three lengths, hollowedout to about two inches, or an inch and half thick, and well fastened togetherwith 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 the thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, towhich 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 wasabout four feet and an half high; the ornament at the stern was fixed uponthat end as the stern-post of a ship is upon her keel, and was about fourteenfeet high, two feet broad, and an inch and 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 Opoorage or Mercury Bay, whichwere of one piece, and hollowed by fire, are built after this plan, and few areless than twenty feet long; some of the smaller sort have outriggers, and some-times