Fiji and the Fijians . CANOE-RIGGING. latter taking the place of shrouds: when the sail is hoisted, the hal-yards also become back-stays : these ropes, as long as the canoe isunder sail, may be called her standing rigging, not being loosed intacking. The halyards are bent on the yard at less than a third of its INDUSTRIAL PRODUCE, ETC. 61 length from the upper end, and passed over the top of the mast, whichhas generally a crescent form. The great sail is allowed to swing afew feet from the deck, or to lie upon it, until orders are given to getunder way. The yard is now hoisted hard up to the m
Fiji and the Fijians . CANOE-RIGGING. latter taking the place of shrouds: when the sail is hoisted, the hal-yards also become back-stays : these ropes, as long as the canoe isunder sail, may be called her standing rigging, not being loosed intacking. The halyards are bent on the yard at less than a third of its INDUSTRIAL PRODUCE, ETC. 61 length from the upper end, and passed over the top of the mast, whichhas generally a crescent form. The great sail is allowed to swing afew feet from the deck, or to lie upon it, until orders are given to getunder way. The yard is now hoisted hard up to the mast-head ; hut,as the length of the yard from the halyards to the tack is longer thanthe mast, the latter is slacked off so as to incline to that end of thecanoe to which the tack is fixed, thus forming with the lower length ofthe yard a triangle, of which the line of deck is the base. The ends of. MAST-HEADS, PILASTERS, ETC. the deck-beams on the cama side serve for belaying pins on which aturn of the halyards is taken, the loose ends being passed around the dog, or belaying pole. The steersman, holding a long oar, standsnearly on a line with the tack on the far edge of the main-deck, whilein the opposite corner is the man who tends the sheet. The sheet isbent on the boom about two-thirds up, and, by giving it a couple ofturns on a beam, one man can hold it even in a breeze. Like the feluc-ca of the Mediterranean, the helm is used at either end, and, on tacking,it is put up instead of down, that the outrigger may be kept to wind-ward : the wind being brought aft, the tack is carried to the other end,which is thus changed from stern to bow, the mast being slacked backagain to suit the change; the helmsman and sheetholder change places,and the canoe starts on her new track. Unless the outrigger be keptto the weather side, the canoe must be swamped ; for, so soon as it getsto leew
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Keywords: ., bookauthorwilliams, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookyear1859
