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14/06/2006: "OUTRIGGER CANOE ........New Guinea"

Locals from the eastern tip of New Guinea sail to tiny Egum Atoll out from the former district capital of Samarai.

The sail of the canoe has been hand-woven from palm leaves, while the craft itself is held together without using any metal fastenings.

Melanesian-Polynesian in origin, some their ancestors are considered thought to have sailed from Formosa (Taiwan) many centuries ago.

Traditional canoes are rapidly being replaced by fiberglass and aluminum, along with the skills required to build them.

This craft appears briefly in a documentary film Voyage to the Coral Sea now part of the Screensound collection.