Argosy, Vol. 1 (December 9, 1882) — page 198: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A THREE MAN BREEZE — 191 with the mast and lateen sail amidships. Instead of “ wearing ship,” the helmsman simply moves to the opposite side of the proa with his long paddle, retrims the sail, and is already headed in the opposite direction. But the craft on board of which Raymond and myself were taken twenty minutes from the time when we had first sighted her, was of different construc- tion in some respects. And as few if any of my readers may have seen one of the kind, I may be pardoned if I give the description somewhat in detail. From measurements afterward made I should say that the proa was twenty three feet long, and had exactly fourteen mehes of beam, with a depth of six inches when loaded. Hollowed from a log of tamassi wood, itself almost as buoyant as cork, this proa had a wedge-like bow and a square stern, with a long slanting overhang. The mast and a sprit, which really combined the sprit and boom, were both of stout bamboo, while the “ lug ” sail, rather wider on the head than its foot, was woven of a stout fibrous grass. But the peculiar feature—the one in which lay the principal secret of the proa’s speed—was the outrigger, a heavy ironwood log, sharpened at both ends to offer as little resistance as possible to the water, hung at right angles with the hull. When we first took our places in the proa, whose master was a lithe, olive hued native, wearing a “ billycock ” hat, a waist cloth and a pair of faded red silk stockings, the breeze was comparatively light, and the weight of the out- rigger alone served to keep the crait on a tolerably even keel while the wind was well on the quarter, The motion was most exhilarating. I could compare it to nothing but an ice boat, so smooth and evenly did the quaint craft slip over the sea, which was beginning to run in short, even swells. The port watch, who stood well forward on the lookout, took no part what- ever in the conversation. Huis eyes were steadfastly fixed on the horizon ahead, where I fancied I could see a faint hazy loom indicative of land. The. breeze grew steadily stronger, and as the proa’s rate of sailing in- creased I climbed up on the foot of the after arm of the outrigger, where, clasping the mast with one arm, I began enjoying the novelty of the situation. “ Sails like a yacht now, eh, Harrison?” called Raymond, leaning invol- untarily to windward as the frail craft, whose gunwale was not a foot from the frothing seas, kept “ heeling ” more and more, despite the counterbalance of the heavy outrigger. ‘‘ S’pose bime by we soon hab ‘ three man ' breeze you see ’em sail,” again remarked the starboard watch, and I began to think he might, after all, be a colored man of truth and veracity. ‘Wonder what a ‘ three man’ breeze is?’ asked Raymond, as he glanced over his shoulder at the narrow ribbon of foam streaming after the broad bladed paddle wielded by the muscular helmsman. “ Perhaps when it blows so hard that it takes three to steer,” I suggested rather foolishly. But it was not long before 1 saw my mistake. For presently the port watch sang out something in his native tongue that I knew by his accompanying gestures meant “ Land ho!” And obedient » GONG OOO UN ceo