Olechutel or Olechútel (Bamboo Raft)

[Arturo]

A conveyance of primitive design, consisting of a quantity of bamboo fastened together and used for fishing, hunting of transportation by water. Usually they are propeled by sails, paddles or poles.

Bamboo is a tribe of flowering perennial evergreen plants in the grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. In bamboos, the internodal regions of the stem are hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, even of palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering.

Bamboos are some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product. High-quality bamboo is stronger than steel, a property that has made it a choice in building materials and weaponry.

Bamboo has traditionally been used to make a wide range of everyday utensils, particularly in Japan, where archaeological excavations have uncovered bamboo baskets dating to the Late Jomon period (2000-1000 BC).

Several manufacturers offer bamboo bicycles, surfboards, snowboards, and skateboards.
Due to its flexibility, bamboo is also used to make fishing rods. The split cane rod is especially prized for fly fishing. Bamboo has been traditionally used in Malaysia as a firecracker called a meriam buluh or bamboo cannon. Four-foot-long sections of bamboo are cut, and a mixture of water and calcium carbide are introduced. The resulting acetylene gas is ignited with a stick, producing a loud bang. Bamboo can be used in water desalination. A bamboo filter is used to remove the salt from seawater.

Many minority groups in remote areas that have water access in Asia use bamboo that is 3–5 years old to make rafts. They use 8 to 12 poles, 20 to 24 feet long, laid together side by side to a width of about 3 to 4 feet. Once the poles are lined up together, they cut a hole crosswise through the poles at each end and use a small bamboo pole pushed through that hole like a screw to hold all the long bamboo poles together. Floating houses use whole bamboo stalks tied together in a big bunch to support the house floating in the water. Bamboo is also used to make eating utensils such as chop sticks, trays, and tea scoops.


Palauans use two types of rafts, and they are mainly just for fishing activities near the shore. They don’t use rafts offshore, offshore they use a canoe. Rafts are very good because they can go in inches of water. And it’s very stable and practical. Fishing on the raft, you are wet all the time— is pretty much just going through the water—so they have an elevated platform where put their gear.

One kind is “more for large community-oriented activities”, and the other is just “a smaller, more individual one for father or son to go fishing”. That is mainly a utility transport for spear fishing, harpooning and such. Then there’s one they call “olechútel”, that’s a larger one to carry either the coconut fronds that’s used for sweeping the fish, or they’re used to carry stones to build weirs. It’s a utility transport."

They have nets with which they actively pursue schools and you surround them, especially on reef flats and sea grass beds and sand flats. Leaf sweeps were used sometimes. That’s a village operation. They have the two big rafts that they make specifically for it, carrying these leaf sweeps, and they get one raft on each side, and they come together, driving the fish and running them into a small back-end net, using big coconut fronds on the water. It requires the whole village.

Then they bring it forward and each person holds a piece of rope made out of vine and they keep getting it smaller. If it gets caught then they have to lift it up, so it’s a community effort. Much like what they call hukilau in Hawai‘i, but they use it on the reefs instead of the beach. It’s not a net but at the end they have a back net, so a lot of fish come in, and they figure that’s all they want, then they close the net and let the rest of the fish go."

Palau, 1985, S.G.?, Scott; 69.

Source: Various Web Sites.