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Provisions for a Micronesian Voyage
by Thomas Gladwin,
from "East is a Big Bird"
After the crew is
selected the remainder of the preparations go forward almost
automatically since everyone knows what is required to equip the
canoe, provision the voyage, and meet the personal needs of each
person aboard. This does not mean that the preparations are simple,
especially the equipment which must be stowed aboard for an ocean
trip. Its complexity can perhaps best be conveyed by running through
the list of essential items which must be carried. They include:
--a number of paddles,
enough for all crew members
--two bailers, one for
each end of the canoe
--spare ropes of
various sizes for mooring, repairs, and so on
--eight to ten pieces
of hardwood a couple of inches in diameter and about 3 feet long
used for splicing broken spars, for driving into the sand to moor
the canoe, and in an emergency for firewood, lashed to the outer end
of the outrigger platform
--two longer straight
poles about the same diameter as the above but 14 feet long used to
replace lost spars and to pole the canoe through shallows
--a heavier timber of
the same length but 6 to 8 inches in diameter used as a lever to
right a capsized canoe or to fashion a spare mast, lashed with the
two slender poles to the inboard end of the outrigger platform
--a number of mats
roughly plaited from coconut fronds used to keep food and other
goods dry and to shield the canoe from the sun and drying winds when
it is moored or ashore
--a box containing an
adze, chisel, brace and bits, and a plane for repairs
--an open iron box
(usually from wrecked Japanese equipment from World War II) for
cooking fish caught at sea, with sand in it if the trip is to be
short and extra weight does not matter, otherwise empty
--dried coconut husks
to use for fuel for cooking
--cleaned, combed
coconut fibers to twist into rope splices
--strips of coconut
midrib from which to make fishhook lures, formerly used also for
divination by knots
--a conch shell with a
hole in its side to be blown as a horn to announce arrival, to keep
track of other boats in convoy at night if there is no flashlight,
and in the past to scare away storms and rain squalls
--one or two
flashlights and batteries if available, used especially to check the
compass at night and to shine on the sail when in convoy so that
each canoe can locate the others
--a large compass,
preferably protected in a box, belonging to the navigator
--needle and thread
for sail repairs
--sticky breadfruit
sap to patch leaks
--black paint to cover
abrasions and keep the hull from waterlogging
--fish lines and
fishhooks for both trolling and hand lines
--a large bottle or
glass float-ball filled with emergency drinking water
--if available,
traditional conical hats for sun and rain made from pandanus and
tied under the chin, better than any imported hats
"These things are
brought aboard and stowed away, along with food, trade goods, gifts,
and personal effects, and all are checked by the navigator before he
pronounces the canoe ready to leave. Assembling the items is not,
however, as difficult as the length of the list might suggest. Most
of them are conveniently stowed between voyages in the eaves of the
canoe house and need only be lifted down and carried to the canoe.
Only after everything else is aboard and checked is the sail brought
out. The sail comes last because until it is raised it forms a bulky
barrier impeding movement of men on the readying canoe.
"Meanwhile food for
the voyage is prepared and assembled. There is a special word in
Puluwat for the food which provisions a canoe going to a far island,
but the food itself is no different from that eaten ashore. If the
departure is hasty food may even b e collected from that already on
hand in the various households. It is better, however, if the
journey is to be long to cook freshly picked breadfruit or fresh
taro and pound it and package it in big breadfruit leaves the
morning the voyage begins. In this way it will be fresh and last as
long as possible under the hot sun. For a long trip there should in
addition be some preserved breadfruit. It is not as good to eat, but
lasts much better even after it is taken from the cool ground. If
people become hungry after several days at sea it is usually not
because too little food was put aboard but because the food became
sour. Some ripe coconuts are carried as extra rations. Until the
inside shell is cracked the rich, oily meat of a ripe coconut will
last almost indefinitely. It is also good to eat along with starchy
breadfruit or taro if no fish have been caught. Finally there are
several bunches of younger green coconuts, drinking nuts to quench
the thirst and provide the extra pleasure afterward of scraping out
the soft white meat of the young nut."
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