Vatican boat model exhibit, Part 2

In a current temporary exhibit at the Vatican Museums, dozens of models of watercraft from numerous nations and cultures are presented to re...

Buckminster Fuller's Model Boat Collection, Part 1

Buckminster Fuller is normally associated with technological modernism, but it seems he had a penchant for preindustrial technology too. His...

The Samoan Va'a alo

A va'a alo, from  Kava Drinking Ceremonies Among the Samoans And A Boat Voyage round 'Upolu Island, Samoa , S. Percy Smith. Note row...

The Samoan 'iatolima

Some weeks ago we discussed the Samoan "small canoe," or paopao , drawing from the work of Te Rangi Hiroa. In contrast to the paop...

The Samoan Paopao

Born in 1877 or thereabouts, Te Rangi Hīroa , aka Sir Peter Henry Buck, was a half-English, half-Maori anthropologist who studied Maori and ...