Vaga of Suau Island

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Vaga of Suau Island

Post by Anatol » Sat Feb 06, 2016 9:28 pm

The canoe[Vaga] of this part of New Guinea [east of South Cape] is usually about twenty-five feet in length, and carries seven or eight people. It is made of the trunk of a tree, hollowed out like a long trough, roundly pointed at each end, a foot and a half in extreme width, with the sides bulging out below and falling in at top, leaving only eight inches between the gunwales which are strengthened by a pole running along from end to end. The end which are alike are carved in imitation of the head of a turtle or snake, but more elaborately. The outrigger consist of a float as long as the canoe, from wich it is 4 feet distant. Each of the numerous booms is attached to the float by means of two pairs of undercrossed sticks. In the Waga there are from five to nine booms, three or seven of which support the platform, the two end ones being quite free. There is no washstrake, but there appears to be a pole on each gunwale on which the booms rest. The inner ends of booms rest in notches in both gunwales, and are secured there. The booms support a not great platform made of strong rattan laths . The canoes seen by explorers were provided with only a small temporary sail made by interlacing the leaflets of a coconut palm leaf and stuck up on pole when going with the wind free. The Vaga is commonly used, in moderate weather, for short passages and for going out a few miles at sea to fish. In fine weather with light wind they are often used for expeditions of from 10 to 20 miles along the coast. They hug the shore all the way so that if bad weather sets in the voyagers can haul the vaga up on the beach of some quiet bay. The explorer Abel remarks: "If a dead fair wind favours the voyagers, it is only the matter of a few minutes to paddle the craft in shore cut an impromptu mast from the thick bush along the coast, scale the cocoa nut palm tree and haсk off two long leaves, plait these together for a sail, re embark and up stick and away down the coast at the rate of three knots an hour." The Vaga is propelled by means of paddles and is made out of a solid log. The paddles are like those of the Louisiades Archipelage with spear-shaped blades and slender handles, but are larger measuring six feet in length and of neater construction, the end of the handle being carved into some fanciful device." The bailer is scoop-shaped, made of wood, with an inwardly projecting handle.
Papua New Guinea 2009;K3.70;SG?
Sources:A. Haddon, John. Hornell: Canoes of Oceania.1937.Volume II. http://www.cherini.eu/etnografia/Oceania/Oceania.html
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