This page has already been transcribed. You can find new pages to transcribe here.

Transcription

[Page 200]

196.
Some account of New Zealand

magnificently adornd  their heads were formd by a Plank of projecting about 3 feet before the canoe & and on their sterns stood up another proportiond to the size of the canoe  from ten to 18 feet high  both these were most richly carvd with open work & coverd with loose fringes of Black feathers which that had a most gracefull effect  the gunnel boards were often also carvd in a grotesque taste & ornamentd with white feathers in bunches placd upon a black ground at certain intervals  they sometimes joind two small canoes together & now & then made use of an outligger as is practisd in the Islands  seldom towards the north rather oftener to the Southward

in managing these canoes they are very expert, in the padling of them at least in one I counted 16 padlers of a side & never did men I beleive keep better time with their strokes  driving on the boat with immense velocity
[Margin note] row fast
their paddles are often ornamented with carving  their blade is of an oval shape pointed towards the bottom  broadest in the middle & again sloping towards the handle  which is about 4 feet long  the whole being generaly near 6. more or less feet long more or less   
but in sailing they are not so expert  we very seldom saw them make use
 

Current Status: 
Completed