How were Society Islands war canoes decorated?

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dilly bag; Aboriginal Australian art, Northern Territory, Australia — Oceanic art and architecture An Aboriginal Australian decorating a tightly woven dilly bag with white, yellow, and ochre (red) paints, Northern Territory, Australia, 1948.

In the Society Islands, large war canoes—which could reach lengths of up to 100 feet—were primarily decorated with towering sternposts. These sternposts were carved with a vertical series of human figures. Additionally, smaller figures were used to decorate the prows and the high, upward-curving sternposts of smaller canoes.1