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There are similar
reports of the use of "paddleboards" by other Polynesians, notably in the
Hawaiian Islands by Clerke in
1778, Ledyard
and Gilbert in 1779,
and Campbell in1812.
Lisiansky
(1804)
and Rugg (in D'Urville), c1840, reported the use of types of "floatboards"
at Easter Island (Rapa Nui).
Eskine
(1853) noted the similar use of "a rough log of wood" at Lufi, New Caledonia,
in 1849.
On Santa Cruz, Patteson
reported that "swarms of natives swam out, with cries of Toki,
toki, and planks before them to float through the
surf."
Alternatively, James Hornell (1936) suggests that these craft are catamarans, that is a type of raft.
The Text
Translations
"The least number they had in a canoe was three, the greatest ten, some swimming, and others hanging on altogether,"
"about seventy canoes,
in each of which came three men, in some more in others less.
Others came swimming,
and others on logs:"
"In anyone the least number would be 3 [men], and in the largest 10; some were swimming and others on logs [? rude catamarans]."
"In each had less than they were three and in which more than ten, some swim and others on sticks,"
Additional Source Documents
1813 Capt. David Porter : Madison's Island, Marquesas.
1914 Fredrick O'Brien : Surfriding in the Marquesas.
Quiros, P. F. De:
The
Voyages of Pedro Fernandaz de Quiros (1595-1606).
Translated and edited
by Sir Clements Markham.
Hakluyt Soc., 2d
ser., vols. 14, 15, 1904.
Online:
http://www.archive.org/stream/voyagesofpedrofe01queiuoft/voyagesofpedrofe01queiuoft_djvu.txt
Quoted and translated
in
Haddon, A.C. and
Hornell, James: Canoes of Oceania.
Bernice P. Bishop
Museum Special Publications 27, 28, and 29.
Bishop Museum Press,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 1975.
Volume 1, pages
29-30..
Originally published
as
Hornell, James:
The
Canoes of Polynesia, Fiji, and Mirconesia.
Bernice P. Bishop
Museum Special Publication 27.
Bernice P. Bishop
Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1936.
There are similar
reports of the use of "paddleboards" by other Polynesians, notably in Hawaii
by Clerkein 1778, Ledyard
and Gilbert
in 1779,
and Campbell
in1812.
Lisiansky
(1804)
and Rugg (in D'Urville), c1840, reported the use of "floatboards" at Easter
Island (Rapa Nui).
There is also a
report that "natives swam out, with ... planks before them to float through
the surf" in Santa Cruz by Patteson
(1857)
James Hornell (1936) suggests that these craft are catamarans, that is a type of raft, see below.
The Text
Translations
"The least number they had in a canoe was three, the greatest ten, some swimming, and others hanging on altogether,"
"about seventy canoes,
in each of which came three men, in some more in others less.
Others came swimming,
and others on logs:"
"In anyone the least number would be 3 [men], and in the largest 10; some were swimming and others on logs [? rude catamarans]."
"In each had less than they were three and in which more than ten, some swim and others on sticks,"
Authorship
"The narratives were evidently dictated by Quiros, or written from his notes ... by Luis de Belmonte Bermudez, a young man who was Secretary to Quiros during the voyage of 1606,"
- Markham:
Introduction,
page XI.
- Attributed to
Publication
The earliest available
publication of the voyage was :
"entitled Hechos
del Marques de Cafiete (1613), a life of one of the Viceroys of
Peru, by Cristoval Suarez de Figueroa, 1 Book VI contains an abbreviated
version of the narrative in the Historia (1) generally copied word for
word.
...
The account in the
work of Suarez de Figueroa was the only version of the second voyage of
Mendana that was known to our (English) historians of Pacific voyages,
Dalrymple and Burney."
- Markham: Introduction, page XII.
Biography
"Pedro Fernandez
de Quiros (1563?-1615), navigator, was born at Evora, Portugal, but became
subject to the King of Spain when the two countries were dynastically united
in 1580.
Quiros is the Spanish
form of the name.
He was a supercargo
on Portuguese merchant ships and appears to have spent several years seafaring
on the Pacific coasts of America.
He was recognized
as a competent and experienced navigator when in 1595 he was appointed
chief pilot of an expedition of four ships under Alvaro de Mendaña
setting out to colonize the Solomon Islands, which Mendaña had visited
in 1567."
- Australian Dictionary
of Biography (July 2011).
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/quiros-pedro-fernandez-de-2568
The
Voyage
"They sailed from
Callao, Peru, in April 1595.
They sailed from
Callao, Peru, in April 1595 and in three months reached the Marquesas,
which Mendaña at first thought were the Solomons. Quiros was most
impressed by the natives, as was James Cook 180 years later; they were
'in all things so becoming that … nothing in his life ever caused him so
much regret as the leaving of such fine creatures to be lost in that country'.
However, they became
importunate and many were killed, though Quiros thought 'such evil deeds'
were 'not things to do, nor to praise, nor to allow, nor to maintain, nor
to refrain from punishing if the occasion permits'.
...
The expedition left
the Marquesas in August and, after passing several small islands, on 8
September sighted a large one which Mendaña named Santa Cruz."
- Australian Dictionary
of Biography (July 2011).
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/quiros-pedro-fernandez-de-2568
James
Hornell (1936)
In a section subtitled
"Ambiguity in Early Records", in reference to an account of canoes
in the Marquesas Islands, by De Qiros in July 1595, James Hornell
notes:
"none of the English translations gives a sufficiently critical rendering of the chief passage which concerns the present subject."
He then provides the text in Spanish and his own translation, followed by an extended analysis concentrating on whether the acount implies that the canoes were fitted with outriggers ("the present subject").
De Quiros indicates the range of canoe crew numbers (3 to 10) and then notes "unos a nado, y otros sobre palos", which Hornell translates as "some were swimming and others on logs [? rude catamarans]".
Hornell suggests,
by the use of brackets in the translation, that these craft may have been
"rude catamarans".
Note that Hornell
is not refering to the modern twin-hulled catamaran, for him a catamaran
is a pointed form of a raft, with shorter logs affixed to a longer central
log to produce a more streamlined wedge shape.
Hornell discusses the rafts (catamarans) of the Marquesas Islands on pages 48 and 49, including a photograph illustrating such a craft:
"Figure 32. - Catamaran made of three banana stalks skewered together (photographed in 1925 in Taipi Valley, Nukuyhiva)."
He intially quotes Porter (1822) as an early observation:
"a kind of catamaran which they construct in a few minutes, and a kind of surfboard, similar to that of the natives of the Sandwich Islands."
Hornell then notes Quiros' "logs [? rude catamarans]", apparently in further support for his earlier speculation.
Hornell does not consider the possiblity that the "logs" are Porter's "a kind of surfboard", and on page 49 appears more concerned noting the use of rafts as sea going vessels.
Porter, clearly refering to the "kind of surfboard", continues:
"These, however,
scarcely deserve to be enumerated among their vessels, as they are
used chiefly by
the boys and girls, and are intended solely for paddling about the harbour."
See Source Documents:
1813 Capt. David
Porter : Madison's Island, Marquesas.
For a later detailed
report, see:
1914 Fredrick
O'Brien : Surfriding in the Marquesas.
Documents
1. Markham (1904):
Introduction.
2. Zaragoza
(1876): Quiros.
3. Markham (1904):
Quiros
1.
4. Stanley
(1868): Morga.
5. Markham (1904):
Morga
2.
6. Markham (1904):Quiros
1606.
6. Haddon and
Hornell (1975):
Marquesas.
The best and most
detailed narrative of both voyages is contained in a work which remained
in manuscript until twenty-eight years ago, when it was edited and published
at Madrid by Don Justo Zaragoza.
It is entitled
History of the Discovery of the Austrial Regions, made by the General Pedro
Fernandez de Quiros. (1)
Two copies were
known to be in existence : one in the private library of the King of Spain,
the other in that of the Ministry of Marine.
Both have erroneous
titles, written by careless librarians.
The narratives
were evidently dictated by Quiros, or written from his notes ; but Serior
Zaragoza gives reasons for the belief that the work, in its present form,
was written by Luis de Belmonte Bermudez, a young man who was Secretary
to Quiros during the voyage of 1606, and that ...
Footnote: 1. Historia
del descubrimiento de las regiones Austriales hecho por el General Pedro
Fernandez de Quiros, publicada par Don Justo Zaragoza (3 vols. Madrid,
1876.)
For the original
Spanish text see Quiros, below; for
Markham's translation of Zaragoza, see Quiros 1,
below.
Page XII
... it contains
several passages for which the Secretary was alone responsible.
Belmonte Bermudez
remained faithful to Quiros in his adversity, and, after his master's death,
he became a poet of some celebrity. Sefior Zaragoza quotes several passages
which show the hand of a poet.
Page XIII
In the work entitled
Hechos del Marques de Cafiete, a life of one of the Viceroys of Peru, by
Cristoval Suarez de Figueroa, (Volume) 1 Book VI contains an abbreviated
version of the narrative in the Historia (1) generally copied word for
word.
Numerous details
are omitted, particularly such as are derogatory to the Spanish character.
There are also
a few passages which are not in the Historia, but none having any bearing
on the events of the voyage.
Suarez de Figueroa
tells us that he had the narrative of Quiros before him as he wrote.
For these reasons
I have considered it unnecessary to translate the version of Suarez de
Figueroa, as it is merely a mutilated version of the narrative in the Historia.
The account in
the work of Suarez de Figueroa was the only version of the second voyage
of Mendana that was known to our (English)
historians of Pacific
voyages, Dalrymple and Burney.
There is a short
report of the second voyage of Mendana, to Antonio de Morga, the Governor
of the Philippines, by Quiros himself. It was translated and printed by
Lord Stanley of Alderley, in his edition of the work of Antonio de Morga
(Hakluyt Society, 1868).
I have caused
it to be reprinted in this volume, in order to make the monograph of Quiros
complete.
For Stanley's translation
of Morga, see
Morga, below.
For Markham's reprint
of Stanley's translation, see Morga 2,
below.
For the voyage of Quiros in 1606, when he discovered ...
Footnote: 1. I have given an account of Suarez de Figueroa and of his works in a footnote to my translation of the Spanish account of the capture of Sir Richard Hawkins, also taken from the Hechos del Marques de Canete.
Page XIV
... the Duff and Banks groups of islands, and the New Hebrides, there are no less than four separate accounts.
The first, and
by far the most important, forms the second part of the Historia del descubrimiento
de las regiones Austriales, by Belmonte Bermudez.
It contains the
full narrative, the speeches and reflections of Quiros, as recorded by
his Secretary, and the remarks of the poet
himself.
The royal orders,
the curious and interesting instructions of Quiros to his Captains, the
act of possession and other strange proceedings at Espiritu Santo, the
half-allegorical will of Quiros, and other documents, are included.
For Markham's translation of Bermudez, see Bermudez, below.
El siguiente dia,
con duda si aquella isla era poblada,se pusieron las naves al Sur de ella
y muy cerca de tierra, y de un puerto que esta junto á un cerro
ó picacho que queda a la parte del Leste, salieron setenta canoas
pequeñas, no todas iguales, hechas de un palo,conunos contrapesos
de cañas por cada bordo, al modo de postigos de galeras, que llegan
hasta el agua en que escoran para no trastornarse, y bogando todos sus
canaletes.
En cada una los
menos que habian eran tres y en la que más diez, unos a nado y otros
sobre palos, como cuatrocientos indios, casi blancos y de muy gentil talle,
grandes, fornidos, membrudos, bueno el pié y la pierna, y manos
con largos dedos; buenos ojos, boca y dientes, y las demás facciones;
de carnes limpias, en que mostraban bien ser gente sana y fuerte: hasta
en el hablar eran robustos.
Page 15
CHAPTER IV.
The Island of
Magdalena.
...
At 5 in the afternoon,
an island was sighted 10 leagues distant, being N.W. by N. (1)
The Adelantado
gave it the name of Magdalena, as it was the eve of that day.
He thought it
was the land that he sought, for which reason he was very joyful in every
one's sight, in that he had come in a short time with a fair wind, the
victuals good, and the people amicable, healthy, and cheerful.
During the voyage
there had been fifteen marriages, scarcely a day passing without some one
wanting to be married next day.
It seemed as
if all would run in couples with the good fortune, ...
Footnote: (1) Magdalena is in 10 25' S. and 138 28' W,
Page 16
... with high hopes, many stories, and none for the good of the natives.
The Adelantado
said to the Vicar and Chaplain that they were to chant the " Te Deum laudamus"
with all the people on their knees, and that they should give thanks to
God for the mercy of sighting land.
This was done
with great devotion.
On the following
day, with doubt whether that island was inhabited, the ships were steered
to the south of it, and very near the coast.
From a point
under a peaked hill towards the eastern end, there came out seventy small
canoes, not all the same size, made of one piece of wood, with outriggers
of cane on each side, after the manner of the gunwales of galleys, which
reach to the water on
which they press
to prevent the canoe from capsizing, and all their paddles rowing.
The least number
they had in a canoe was three, the greatest ten, some swimming, and others
hanging on altogether, four hundred natives, almost white, and of very
graceful shape, well-formed, robust, good legs and feet, hands with long
fingers ; good eyes, mouth, and teeth, and the same with the other features.
Page 28
Outside the village
they had some very long and wellmade canoes of a single tree, with the
form of a keel, bow, and stern, and with boards well fastened with ropes
made from cocoa fibre.
In each one there
is room for thirty or forty natives as rowers ; and they gave us to understand,
when they were asked, that they went in these large canoes to other lands.
They work with
adzes, which they make of thick fish-bones and shells.
They sharpen
them with large pebbles, which they have for the purpose.
Page 115
LADRONE ISLANDS.
CHAPTER XXX.
Many canoes came
out from Guan under sail, with a number of Ladrone natives in them, who
are stout men of a reasonable colour. They were crying out "charume" which
means friends, and "heoreque" signifying "Give us iron," which is what
they seek, being
very fond of
it.
As so many came
there was a great press, and some canoes fouled each other and were overturned,
whose masters swimming, turned them over again with great ease.
They are built
with two prows, so that they can turn the sail without having to turn the
canoe.
They brought
many cocoa nuts, plantains, rice, water, and some large fish, giving all
in exchange for old iron.
Those of the
ship were delighted with these people and their refreshing provisions.
Page 65
Narrative of
the Voyage of the Adelantado Alvaro de Mendana de Neira for the Discovery
of the Islands of Solomon.
On Friday the ninth of April, of the year 1595, the Commander-in-chief Alvaro de Mendana set sail with his fleet to go and subject and people the western islands of the South Sea, from the port of the Callao of Lima, which is in twelve degrees and a half south latitude, passing by the valleys of Santa, Truxillo and Sana, and collecting men and provisions, he went to Paita, where he took in water, and made a list of four hundred persons, more or less, with his four vessels, two large and two small.
He left this port (which is five degrees higher than the said port), steering west-south-west, making for the islands of his discovery: he took as master of the camp Pedro Merino Manrique, and as admiral his brother-in-law Lope de la Vega, and as chief pilot, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros; and he sailed on this course to the altitude of nine degrees and a-half, from which point he sailed west and to the point south-west to fourteen degrees, where he changed his course to west and the point north-west; and having reached by this course fully ten degrees of latitude, on Friday, twenty ...
Page 66
... first of July,
we sighted an island, to which the general gave the name of Madalena, and
from a port in it there came forth about seventy canoes, in each of which
came three men, in some more in others less.
Others came swimming,
and others on logs: they were more than four hundred Indians, white, and
of very agreeable appearance, tall and strong, large limbed, and so well
made that they had greatly the advantage over us; with handsome teeth,
eyes and mouth, hands and feet, and most beautiful flowing hair, and many
of them very fair.
Page 149
On Friday, the
9th of April, of the year 1595, the Commander-in-Chief, Alvaro de Mendana,
set sail with his fleet to go and subject and people the western islands
of the South Sea, from the port of the Callao of Lima, which is in 12 /2
degrees S. latitude ; passing
by the valleys
of Santa, Truxillo and Sana, and collecting men and provisions, he went
to Paita, where he took in water, and made a list of four hundred persons,
more or less, with his four vessels, two large and two small.
He left this
port (which is 5 higher than the said port), steering W.S.W., making for
the islands of his discovery : he took as Master of the Camp Pedro Merino
Manrique, and as Admiral his brother-in-law, Lope de la Vega, and as Chief
Pilot, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros ; and he sailed on this course to the
altitude of 9 1/2 degrees, from which point he sailed W. and to the point
S.W. to 14, where he changed his course to W. and the point N.W. ; and
having reached, by this course, fully 10 of latitude, on Friday, 21st of
July, ...
Page 150
... we sighted
an island, to which the General gave the name of Magdalena, and from a
port in it there came forth about seventy canoes, in each of which came
three men, in some more in others less.
Others came swimming,
and others on logs : they were more than four hundred natives, white, and
of very agreeable appearance, tall and strong, large limbed, and so well
made that they had greatly the advantage over us ; with handsome teeth,
eyes and mouth, hands and feet, and most beautiful flowing hair, and many
of them very fair.
Page 303
ANCHORED AT NAVIDAD.
Soon a fresh S.E.
breeze sprang up.
The anchor was
raised in a great hurry, sail was made, and we were able to anchor further
in.
At last, having
passed the night in these brief voyages, the day came, and we entered the
port, anchoring in 12 fathoms in front of a beach exposed to several winds.
The ship was,
therefore, secured with four cables on the 21st of October, 1606.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Relates what happened in this port of Navidad until we left it.
The ship was anchored
; but, as we had no boat, we made a raft of two barrels and a yard.
The Captain ordered
four men, with the necessary provision of biscuits and arquebuses, to go
on shore and look for some settlements, of which he had notice.
The raft was
taken on shore by the force of the waves.
Three sailors
who were on it found a new boat in a certain place, and two jars in a straw
hut.
Originally published
as
Hornell, James:
The
Canoes of Polynesia, Fiji, and Mirconesia.
Bernice P. Bishop
Museum Special Publication 27.
Bernice P. Bishop
Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1936.
MARQUESAS
ISLANDS
AMBIGUITY IN
EARLY RECORDS
Apart from a bald and probably misunderstood sentence in De Quiros' account of Mendana's second voyage, there is no valid evidence that the Marquesans possessed any type of sea craft other than rafts, single outriggers, and double canoes at the time of the discovery of the southern islands by Mendana in 1595 and of the northern islands by Marchand and Ingraham in 1791.
De Quiros was
the Portuguese pilot on Mendana's second voyage across the Pacific in 1595,
and he alone of that company has left any record of what was seen during
their sojourn in the islands.
Two Spanish texts
of his account are in existence; one given by Cristoval Suarez de Figueroa
(1613) is an abbreviated version of the narrative, generally copied word
for word; the other, complete, is by Don Justo Zaragoza (1876).
As none of the
English translations gives a sufficiently critical rendering of the chief
passage which concerns the present subject, the Spanish text is given,
together with a more literal and exact translation.
Page 30
De Quiros (1876, vol. 1, cop. 6, p. 36) in describing his arrival in the bay of Omoa, in Fatuhiva, the most southerly island, wrote:
De un puerto que
esta junto a un cerro o picacho que queda a la parte del Leste, salieron
setenta canoas pequenas, no todas iguales, hechas de un palo, con unos
contrapesos de canas por cada bordo, al modo de postigos de galeras, que
llegan hasta el agua en que escoran para no trastornarse, y bogando todas
sus canaletes.
En cada una los
menos que habian eran tres y en la mas diez, unos a nado, y otros sobre
palos, como cuatrocientos indios.
(this text presented
in Haddon and Hornell in smaller font and with Spanish punctuation )
Translated, this reads:
From a harbor
under a peaked hill which lies on the eastern side, there came out 70 small
canoes, not all the same size, each made out of a tree trunk, with counterpoises
of canes on each side, after the manner of the outboard rowing galleries
of galleys, which reached down to the water on which they rested to prevent
capsizing; all rowing with their paddles.
In anyone the
least number would be 3 [men], and in the largest 10; some were swimming
and others on logs [? rude catamarans]. Altogether there would be some
400 natives.
(smaller font in
Haddon and Hornell)
Page 48
RAFTS
A catamaran seen
on a stream in the historic Taipi Valley in 1925 consisted of three long
banana stems pegged together with hardwood rods, passed from side to side
(fig. 32).
The fore end
was cut to a sharp wedge point by long sloped cuts from each side; the
after end was truncate.
A box formed
a seat, and the little craft was propelled by an oar-shaped paddle.
Porter (1822,
vol. 2, p. 74) records the occasional use of "a kind of catamaran which
they construct in a few minutes, and a kind of surfboard, similar to that
of the natives of the Sandwich Islands".
Page 49
De Quiros (1876, vol. 1, cap. 6, p. 36) probably refers to this primitive form of catamaran when he states that some of the natives of Fatuhiva came off to the ships upon logs (sobre palos).
(Photograph)
The occasional
use of sea-going rafts is suggested by several traditions.
Handy (1923,
p. 20) records the story of a number of people who, defeated in battle,
departed from Hanapaoa on a bamboo raft and "reached Takaroa in the Tuamotus".
He also mentions
a legend that the tribe called Fitinui, which lived in the upland valley
of Meae Topa Iho in Hivaoa, being overwhelmed in battle, "built rafts of
great packs of bamboos tied together.
On these they
departed from Hivaoa expecting to take refuge on Tahuata.
But a contrary
wind arose and they were driven southward".
A local belief
is current that they landed on Napuka, but Handy says that the culture
and dialect of the Napukans give no suggestion of close relationship to
the Marquesans.
 |
Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publications 27, 28, and 29. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1975. |
http://www.freetranslation.com/
some to I swim,
and other on sticks
http://au.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt
an a I swim,
and others on woods
http://trhttp://webtranslation.paralink.com/
some by swimming,
and others on sticks
| home | catalogue | history | references | appendix |
- balsa [Sp.
'a boat'. Minsheu 1623.]
The Shorter Oxford
Dictionary , Clarendon Press, Oxford, Second Edition, (1989), A-Bazouki,
page 915.
- Markham (trs)
: Quiros III (1904), page 304.
Haddon: Canoes of Melanesia, Queensland, and New Guinea.
Volume II
Santa Cruz Islands
Page 42
The following note concerning the building of a canoe was translated by O'Ferrall (1904, p. 225) from a native account:
Bibliography
"Only some men may dig out canoes; those whose ancestors dug them out.
When a father is near death, that father takes water and washes his son's hands, and they think that the father is giving to his son understanding and wisdom to build canoes, and he signifies it through water.
When a man has fiinished a canoe he takes it down to the sea and paddles very far, and makes it roll on the surf, and then he thinks he drives away the ghost from the adze with which he dug out the canoe, and the ghost of the spot where he cut down the wood for the canoe."
O'FERRALL, W. C., Native stories from Santa Cruz and Reef Islands:
Anthrop. Inst., Jour., vol. 24, pp. 223-233, 1904.
Marginal Communities
in Northeastern Melanesia
Page 57
Anuda
rar tres dias al bergantín, ó hacer una balsa para irse
á
los navios.
rar three days the brig, or make a raft to go to
ships.
page226
Otrosí: Le encargo mucho, que no consienta que
se juegue dados, ni naipes en poca ni en mucha canti-
dad; y si acaso en su navio fueren algunos naipes, ó
dados (excepto para jugar las tablas), los eche luego á
la mar, como cosa tan perjudicial al intento que se
lleva; y si el juego de tablas, damas ó perinola causa-
ren porfías, inquietud y revueltas, los echará todos
á la
mar, para con esto del todo evitar ocasiones tan
dañosas.