POLYNESIAN IMMIGRATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 114, 15 May 1924, Page 8

POLYNESIAN IMMIGRATION.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SUVA, April 30.

Dr. Lambert, who has recently visited the Gilberts and Ellice Colony, has been giving some very interesting details of his visit. Among other things, he says he can now quite understand how the Polynesians got spread over the Pacific. At Tabutauea he saw a canoe with outrigger, which was 78 feet long, and which wes carrying on its trial trip no fewer than 93 people. It had three sails. Then he saw being launched another canoe 90 feet long with 8 feet beam and over six feet from keel to deck. The natives now, he says, have lost the art of steering by the stars, but he said that with the aid of a compass, he would have no hesitation in embarking in one of these canoes for anywhere. He saw another building, which was 108 feet long. In a cruise in one of them, the doctor said the sensation was the most exhilarating thing he had ever experienced. It was like being in a flying machine, with a most ecstatic thrill all the time. The size and strength of these canoes which were made of planks cleverly sewn together with sennet, convinced him that a voyage across the Pacific was no greater wonder than the voyage of CaDitain Cook. " r