Lakana

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A lakanà of the Vezo people with a traditional crab claw sail

Lakanà, also known as la'kana or laka, are traditional outrigger canoes of the Malagasy people of Madagascar.[1][2][3] It is a single-outrigger canoe with a dugout main hull. It is primarily used in the western coast of Madagascar.[1]

Description

The term lakanà more accurately refers to the dugout canoe which serves as the hull.[3][4][5] The dugout is typically gracefully-shaped, with an upturned prow (the firanà).[1] It is usually made from farafatsy wood (Givotia madagascariensis).[6][7] The hull has no rudder, but are steered by means of a paddle.[1]

Lakanà without outriggers are known as lakan’-kan’-ongoutche (lit. "leg lakana"). They are found on the eastern coast of Madagascar. They are long and narrow, but are so unstable that they often capsize.[8]

Lakanà fitted with an outrigger are known as lakam-jilo or lakan-jilo,[1][9][10] found on the western coast of Madagascar.[8] The outrigger is known as fanarinà (lit. "that which maintains the equilibrium") or fangarahanà (lit. "that which is always covered [by water]"). The booms that connect it to the hull are known as raronà or varonandukanà, while the connecting peg stanchions on the float are known as the tatikà.[1] The outrigger is usually made from mafaiboha wood (Commiphora mafaidoha) though locals prefer the hazomalany wood (Hazomalania voyronii).[7]

A small lakanà from the island of Nosy Be, showing the dugout main hull attached to the float with booms and peg stanchions

The lakanà is generally a single-outrigger boat, with only one outrigger float. Some forms are described by Hornell (1920) as "pseudo-double-outrigger" with a vestigial second outrigger float that has become a balancing lighter pole on one side opposite the actual float. Hornell theorized that the traditional canoes of Madagascar may thus be derived from the double-outrigger configuration common in Indonesia, with the change from double to single-outrigger occurring relatively recently (as late as 1595 to 1644). Early European explorers recorded numerous examples of double-outriggers in areas where they are now nonexistent. Hornell mentions surviving examples of true double-outriggers from the mouth of the Sambao River (near the island of Nosy Voalavo, Besalampy) and in Cape Sainte Marie. Elsewhere in East Africa, double-outrigger forms survive, like the Tanzanian ngalawa.[1]

Larger plank-built lakanà are known as lakan-drafitra or lakan-pafana.[1][8] These are equipped with multiple benches athwart the hull, known as sakan’; with the aftmost bench where the steersman sits being known as the sakan’-poulan’.[1] D'Escamps (1884) reports that it can be as large as 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft) and are made of around seventeen component parts (not counting the benches).[8]

Lakanà are usually traditionally equipped with sails, known as the lay,[1] made from raffia palm fibers.[8] though modern lakanà can be equipped with motor engines (usually less than 15 horsepower).[11][12][13] Lakanà from the west coast with both outriggers and sails are known as lakana fiara or lakana piara,[11][12] with the fiara referring to a raised seat in the middle of hull.[14] It can also be propelled traditionally with paddles known as fivè or fivoy, or punting poles known as lopondrà. Other terms associated with the lakanà include havitrà (the boat hook), and dimà (a wooden bailer).[1]

The sailing rig could be one of two types. An Austronesian square-sail is more common (e.g. in Ambaro Bay).[a] This rig is limited to largely downwind use, has limited ability to sail with the wind on the beam and no windward capability. In ordinary use, they are sailed out to the fishing grounds on the land breeze that occurs in the morning and then return on the sea breeze that starts later in the day. The lateen rig is used for larger lakanà, with examples found in, for instance, Narindra Bay. The lateen rig allows a lakanà to sail closer to the wind, so giving some windward performance.[13]

Similar watercraft

The boat is often referred to by the general French term "pirogue", which can include boats with no outriggers.[15] It is differentiated from the botsy, a larger type of boat originally taught by French shipbuilders in the 19th century.[2]

Austroneisan outrigger and boat-building technologies were also adapted by non-Austronesian groups in neighboring East Africa, like the Tanzanian ngalawa and the Fulani laana.[16][17][1]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lakana.

Notes

  1. ^ A square sail, in this sense , is generally defined as a sail that, when it is at rest, is at right angles to the direction of the keel of the boat or ship on which it is set. This means that a square sail has a front and a back surface and a left and a right vertical edge. That applies in the case of this Austronesian sail, though it differs from other examples of square rig that are suspended beneath a yard which is symmetrically mounted on the mast. The other main class of sail is fore and aft rig, where the sail has a left and right surface and a front and a back edge.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hornell, James (September 1920). "The Common Origin of the Outrigger Canoes of Madagascar and East Africa". Man. 20: 134–139. doi:10.2307/2839454.
  2. ^ a b Patrick, James (6 August 2018). "Half-man, half-fish: The surreal lives of Madagascar's nomadic fishermen". Adventure.com. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b Richardson, James (1885). "The Affinities of Malagasy with the Melanesian Languages". The Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine. 3 (9–12): 343–353.
  4. ^ Rogers, James Guiness; Dale, Robert William, eds. (1881). "Among the tribes of south-eastern Madagascar". The Congregationalist. 10: 697–704.
  5. ^ Little, Henry William (1884). Madagascar: Its History and People. W. Blackwood and sons. p. 95.
  6. ^ Petignat, Andry; Jasper, Louise (2016). Baobabs of the World: The Upside-down Trees of Madagascar, Africa and Australia. Penguin Random House South Africa. p. 94. ISBN 9781775844730.
  7. ^ a b TRANS-MAD Developement Parc National de Kirindy-Mite
  8. ^ a b c d e D'Escamps, Henry (1884). Histoire et géographie de Madagascar, Volume 2. pp. 447–448.
  9. ^ Drake, Tuki (2022). Mata Austronesia: Stories from an Ocean World. University of Hawaii Press. p. 83. ISBN 9780824893323.
  10. ^ Abinal, Antoine; Malzac, Victorin (1899). Dictionnaire malgache-français. Imprimerie de la Mission catholique, Mahamasina. p. 287.
  11. ^ a b Cooke, Andrew; Ratomahenina, Onésime; Ranaivoson, Eulalie; Razafinrainibe, Haja (2000). "Madagascar". In Sheppard, Charles R.C. (ed.). Seas at the Millennium: An Environmental Evaluation. Vol. 2. Pergamon. pp. 122–123.
  12. ^ a b Cooke, A.; Wells, S.; Oates, J.; Bouchet, P.; Gilchrist, H.; Leadbeater, A.; Gough, C.L.A.; Rasoloniriana, R.; Randrianjafimanana, R.; Jones, T.G.; Aigrette, L.; Ratefinjanahary, I.; Ravelonjatovo, J. "Marine and Coastal Biodiversity and Conservation". In Andrianarimisa, Aristide; Goodman, Steven M. (eds.). The New Natural History of Madagascar. Vol. 1. p. 343. ISBN 9780691222622.
  13. ^ a b de Rodellec du Porzic, Antoine; Caverivière, Alain (18 July 2017). "Principaux engins de la pêche traditionnelle et leur sélectivité sur la côte nord-ouest de Madagascar (baie d'Ambaro)" (PDF). Les crevettes côtières de Madagascar : Biologie, exploitation, gestion. IRD Éditions. pp. 121–142. ISBN 978-2-7099-2291-3. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  14. ^ Oliver, Samuel Pasfield (1886). Madagascar: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island and Its Former Dependencies · Volume 2. New York: MacMillan and Co. p. 38.
  15. ^ James Richardson (1885). A New Malagasy-English Dictionary. London Missionary Society.
  16. ^ Claude Allibert (2011). "Austronesian migration and the establishment of the Malagasy civilization: contrasted readings in linguistics, archaeology, genetics and cultural anthropology". In Tim Curtis (ed.). Islands as Crossroads: Sustaining Cultural Diversity in Small Island Developing States. UNESCO. p. 45. ISBN 9789231041815.
  17. ^ A. M. Jones (1964). Africa and Indonesia the Evidence of the Xylophone and Other Musical and Cultural Factores. Brill Archive.
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