Drua
Drua,also known asna drua,n'drua,ndruaorwaqa tabu( "sacred canoe",Fijian pronunciation:[waᵑɡataᵐbu]), is a double-hull sailing boat that originated in the south-western Pacific islands. Druas do nottackbut rather shunt (stern becomes the bow and vice versa). Both ends of each hull are identical, but the hulls are of different sizes and the smaller one is always sailed to windward. The main differences, compared toproas,are that the hulls have a symmetric U-form profile, and a second hull is used instead of anoutrigger.When a float (cama) is used in place of the smaller hull, the craft is called acamakau.
The Fijian double canoe (wangga ndrua,speltwaqa druain Fijian) was the largest and finest sea-going vessel ever designed and built by natives of Oceania before contact with Europeans.
- —Canoes of Oceania Volume I: The Canoes of Polynesia, Fiji, and Micronesia (1936)[1]
Druas were large, up to 30 metres (98 ft) long, and could carry more than 200 people. Despite being called "canoes", they were not dugouts, but plank-built ships.
Origins
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No written record exists of the diffusion of the drua design, but mostanthropologistsassume its origin inMicronesia,and it probably came to Fiji through the islands ofKiribatiandTuvalu.The only shunting boat type of Polynesian design is thepahiof theTuamotuarchipelago, but it uses equal hulls and does not appear to be related to other proas. From Fiji, druas spread toTonga(where they are calledKalia) andSamoa(where they are called'Alia).Captain Cookvisited Tonga in his second and third voyages, and noticed that druas were rapidly displacing the Polynesiancatamarandesign. Tongan chiefs taking part in Fijian wars would bring them back as prizes of war.[2]Drua construction eventually became a monopoly of Tongan shipbuilders living in the FijianLau Islands.[1][3]
War canoes
[edit]Druas were sacred canoes in the sense that only aristocrats could own one. Their main role was as war ships, taking part in naval battles and transporting warriors during raids. They also had a representative role, and were used to collect taxes. Following Fijian custom, it was an insult to cross her bows, or to sail to her windward, where the mast stay could be easily cut bringing down the sail. It was also custom to paddle and not to sail in sight of another chief's territory. Launching a drua required a bloody ritual, including human sacrifices.[2][4]
With regard to the human sacrifice associated with the launching ceremonies,Wilkesin the 19th century records that when theVunivalu of BauTanoa Visawaqalaunched a canoe 10 or more men were slaughtered on the deck in order that it might be washed with human blood.[5]Wall (1916) also says:
A new canoe was launched over men's bodies that mana might enter into it and make it swift and safe, but I can find no trace of living men ever having been used for this purpose; they were clubbed first. Certain small islands and districts enjoyed by hereditary right the doubtful honour of supplying the victims for these occasions, as for instance the island of Laucala for the launching of the vessels of the Cakaundrove chiefs.[1]
Sailing performance
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The speed of druas became a legendary topic for western sailors, who sometimes confused "Fijian canoes" with "flying proas"(the latter being the original Micronesian design). The low freeboard of the hulls outside the central platform predates the" wave-piercing "bows of modern racing designs. The one course that could not be sailed, was with the wind directly aft; otherwise her bows would be driven underwater. Her performance upwind is unclear, with some authors claiming it to be fast and close to the wind, and others describing it as making too much leeway with the wind in the quarter. The steering oars were massive, and big canoes would carry one at each end because they were too heavy to transport to the other side while shunting. The steersman (or men) risked being crippled or killed when hitting big waves. The chief used to stand on the platform's top, being responsible for cutting the sheet to avoid capsizing.
Heritage
[edit]"The disappearance of the double canoe of Fiji coincided with the close of the nineteenth century. Few if any were constructed after 1883, the year of the death of King Cakobau, for his grandson, Ratu Popi, informed me that the king's sons two or three years later broke his double canoes to pieces and buried them in a swamp that they may be preserved and kept from being used by anyone else"[1]
According to some sources, the last Fijianndruawas built in 1943 on the island ofOngeaand was intended to carrycopra.[6]
Only two original druas appear to have survived, both of them small. One, namedSema Makawa,is in theNew Zealand Maritime Museum.The second one isRatu Finau,at theFiji MuseuminSuva.A new Drua, thei Vola Sigavou,was completed in 2016 and launched at Navua in Serua province on Viti Levu Fiji's main island.[7]
Today, drua are still a symbol of Fiji, and Fiji's telephone booths are decorated with the characteristic mast-tops of drua.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abcdHaddon, A.C.; Hornell, J. (1936).Canoes of Oceania Volume I: The Canoes of Polynesia, Fiji, and Micronesia.Honolulu, Hawaii: Bishop Museum Press.
- ^abGravelle, K. (1979).Fiji's Times. A History of Fiji In Three Parts.Suva, Fiji: Fiji Times.
- ^Routledge, D. (1985).Matanitu. The struggle for power in early Fiji.Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific.
- ^Hocart, A. M. (1929).Lau Islands, Fiji. Bulletin 62.Honolulu, Hawaii: Bishop Museum Press.
- ^Wilkes, Charles (1849).Narrative of the United States exploring expedition. During the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842.Vol. III. Philadelphia. p. 97.
- ^"Oceania Voyaging Canoes".Retrieved13 January2015.
- ^"Largest Double-Hulled Canoe".fijitimes.com.
