Note 129 — Chapter VI

Porter, op. cit. ii. 109-111. A similar, or the same, effigy of a dead chief seated in his canoe was seen by Melville in the same valley (Typee, pp. 183 sq.). He says that "the canoe was about seven feet in length; of a rich, dark-coloured wood, handsomely carved, and adorned in many places with variegated bindings of stained sinnate [cinnet], into which were ingeniously wrought a number of sparkling sea-shells, and a belt of the same shells ran all round it. The body of the figure—of whatever material it might have been made—was effectually concealed in a heavy robe of brown tappa [bark-cloth], revealing only the hands and head; the latter skilfully carved in wood, and surmounted by a superb arch of plumes."