DUG-OUT CANOE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 238, 8 October 1935, Page 15

DUG-OUT CANOE.

WHALING DAYS RELIC. UNEARTHED ON EAST COAST. BUILT OF PUKITEA TIMBER. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) GISBORNE, this day. A dug-out canoe was uncovered recently as tlie result of erosion of soil near the mouth of the Waipaoa River, 13 miles north-west of Gisborne. dug-out was lying at a depth of a,bout six feet and under the surface of the soil and was recovered by Mr. Cyril Clayton, a settler in that locality who has been unable to secure any hint as to its antecedents, although lie lias consulted elders of the Maori tribe at Muriwai who might be expected to Jcnow something of any canoe used within the last 100 years. The dug-out is not of native manufacture as its general lines and square sawcuts at the bow and stern indicate that it must have been constructed in the early days of European settlement, possibly by a member of & whaler's crew who may have landed in Poverty Bay. The timber selected by the builder was Pukitea and there is 110 sign of decay about the vessel, despite its long burial.