Note 34 — THE TECHNICAL CULTURE OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDERS (continued 2)

A canoe of the North Sentinel was seen by Mr Gilbert Rogers during a visit to that island in 190334. It had been hollowed out of a tree and was about 15 feet long. The ends of the canoe were cut off perpendicularly to its length leaving a piece of the tree about one inch thick projecting for about three inches beyond either end to form a small but rickety seat. The log from which the canoe was cut was curved so that the ends were slightly higher than the middle. It had a float supported by six booms passing through holes cut in the sides of the canoe. These booms were fastened to smaller pieces of stick fixed into the sides of the canoe beneath them. The outrigger was attached to each boom by two small pointed sticks driven into the float and tied to the boom above with cane. There was one small paddle, a Nautilus shell for a baler, and five poles resting on the outrigger booms. These point to the canoe being poled along in the lagoon, which is quite shallow, rather than to its being used for long journeys or outside the reefs which surround the island. The canoe was 18 inches in diameter at the smaller end and perhaps 30 inches wide at the larger end.