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Outrigger Replica, Hawaii, 1982

A replica of a Polynesian outrigger canoe sits on a beach in Hawaii's Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park.

These handcrafted vessels, hewn from a single log and often in excess of 50 feet (15 meters) in length, likely carried the first Polynesians to the Hawaiian Islands more than 1,200 years ago.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Kamehameha: Hawaii's Warrior King," November 1983, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Steven Raymer