"The Fijian double canoe (wangga ndrua) was the largest and finest sea-going vessel ever designed and built by natives of Oceania before contact with Europeans."

Druas were large, up to 100 feet (30 m) long, and could carry over 200 people. Despite being called canoes, they were not dugouts but plank-built ships. Today, Fiji druas are still a symbol of Fiji, and Fiji's telephone booths are decorated with the characteristic mast-tops of druas. Fourty man were required for the handling of this fine vessel.

The model shown here is a scaled-down version of the Ratu Finau War Canoe in the Fiji Museum of Suva.  You can view a photo stream showing the gradual construction of this exceptional and difficult-to-build model on Flickr.com

Commissioned at the end of 2012, this 17 3/4" long model was shipped to its Taiwanese collector in March 2013. 

Since that date, Francis built only 1 additional very large scaled-down version of the Fiji Drua, which can be admired at the Polynesia Cultural Center, Lai'e, Oahu, Hawaii.