Moses uses a single blade, partly because it is handier for steering and partly because he has been accustomed to it in his own land.

You are at liberty to use which you prefer." "Thanks, I will follow the lead of Moses, for I also have been accustomed to the single blade and prefer it--at least while I am one of three.

If alone, I should prefer the double blade." "Now, Moses, are you ready ?" asked the hermit.
"All ready, massa." "Get in then and shove off.

Come along, Spinkie." The monkey, which all this time had been seated on a rock looking on with an expression of inconsolable sorrow, at once accepted the invitation, and with a lively bound alighted on the deck close to the little mast, which had been set up just in front of Nigel, and to which it held on when the motions of the canoe became unsteady.
"You need not give yourself any concern about Spinkie," said the hermit, as they glided over the still water of the little cove in which the canoe and boat were harboured.

"He is quite able to take care of himself." Bounding the entrance to the cove and shooting out into the ocean under the influence of Van der Kemp's powerful strokes, they were soon clear of the land, and proceeded eastward at a rate which seemed unaccountable to our hero, for he had not sufficiently realised the fact that in addition to the unusual physical strength of Van der Kemp as well as that of Moses, to say nothing of his own, the beautiful fish-like adaptation of the canoe to the water, the great length and leverage of the bow paddle, and the weight of themselves as well as the cargo, gave this canoe considerable advantage over other craft of the kind.
About a quarter of an hour later the sun arose in cloudless splendour on a perfectly tranquil sea, lighted up the shores of Java, glinted over the mountains of Sumatra, and flooded, as with a golden haze, the forests of Krakatoa--emulating the volcanic fires in gilding the volumes of smoke that could be seen rolling amid fitful mutterings from Perboewatan, until the hermit's home sank from view in the western horizon..