While under sail either the bow or stern of the canoe may be foremost, this being regulated by the necessity of having the outrigger on the weather side, unless in a very light wind.
From the sail being placed so far forward these canoes do not lay up close to the wind, but when going free considerable speed may be obtained.
CANOES OF ROSSEL ISLAND DESCRIBED.
Among the canoes which visited the ship one was of a quite different construction from the rest and resembled some of those which we had seen while passing along the northern side of Rossel Island.

It contained seven men, and came from the eastward--probably from Piron Island.

The body of a canoe of this class is formed like the other, or more common kind, of the hollowed out trunk of a large tree, tapering to a point and rising slightly at the ends, which, however, are alike and covered over by a close-fitting piece of wood, each end being thus converted into a hollow cone.

The sides are raised by a plank two feet high and end-boards forming a kind of long box, with the seams pitched over.

One side is provided with an outrigger similar to that already described, and on the other is a small stage, level with the gunwale, six feet long, planked over, and projecting four feet or thereabouts.