The palari, a highly distinctive schooner-type, comes from ports of Southern Celebes and was evolved by the Bugis who are well-known seamen of the East Indian Archipelago. Using for the base of the hull a local boat of some antiquity, the Bugis added a top-hamper with a. large stern cabin and a long heavy bowsprit in imitation of the European vessels of the past. During the first 30 years after the founding of Singapore, ships of the Bugis played an important part in the inter-island trade, but they declined as steamers were more and more extensively used. Since the war there has been an insufficiency of steamships to carry this trade and the old sailing vessels have come temporarily into their own, carrying much of the inter-island trade over all the seas from New Guinea westward to Singapore.
SG43 Sea Breezes 9/55