"When Captain Beechey visited Mangareva in 1824, he saw rafts only, and the lack of canoes has led to various theories about the degradation of Mangarevan culture. Many European writers have assumed that the Mangarevans made their long sea voyages on rafts, although the native history and Laval's manuscript show clearly that the Mangarevans made voyages outside the group on double canoes, like other Polynesians. Within the group itself, however, they used rafts both for transport and for fishing. They were quite convenient and were easier to make.

The double canoes were owned only by the chiefs who could command the timber from their estates and could employ skilled craftsmen...

The last double canoes were destroyed early in the nineteenth century in war between Mataira and Te Ma-teoa, the grandfather of the last king, Te Ma-puteoa. Te Ma-teoa acquired supreme power and, as the construction of a double canoe was looked upon as a preliminary to war, he forbade the building of any new canoe. Hence the use of canoes for war or voyages ceased, and inter-island transport and fishing were conducted on rafts.

The building of rafts is probably responsible for the large number of stone axes found on Mangareva. The cutting edges of the axes are evenly bevelled from both sides in contrast to the adzes bevelled from one side only, and they form a unique local feature.

Years afterwards, the influx of people from Tahiti and the Tuamotu led to the building of fishing canoes on the Tahitian model and to the abandonment of rafts."

(Buck)