fpecies of fpruce fir, were general over all the Pacific Ocean, as well on the Afiatic as American fide. From the Voyage Round the world lately made by the Discovery and Chatham, it feems, with others, that fuch are in ufe among the favages about Cape Orford, on the north west coaft of America. "Their canoes, 24th April 1792," fays the writer of the journal, were rudely hollowed, each from the trunk of a fingle tree, of capaciousness fufficient to bear eight perfons, but unfit for going far out to fea. Their garments were of fkins of deer, bears, foxes, or riverAnd, from the accounts of Columbus, and Sir Walter Raleigh, they prevailed as much, in their times, on the oppofite fhores of the Atlantic; in the West Indies, as well as in Africa.

otters *."

66

That the primitive Sail, as formerly taken notice of, confifted of a Skin, is confirmed by Cafar's account of the Veneti in Gaul, (B. G. 1. 3. 13.) who continued to ufe fkins for Sails even in his time. Also from the hiftory of Captain Cook's fecond voyage; which, in defcribing the miferable inhabitants of Terra del Fuego, in the very loweft ftate of fociety, 25th December 1774; reprefents their cloathing to be a Seal's Skin, fcarcely covering their fhoulders; their weapons to be bows and arrows, and harpoons made of bone fitted to a ftaff; their canoes to be of bark; and adds, that "they likewife carry in their canoes large Seal Skins to shelter them when at fea, and to ferve as covering to their Huts on fhore; and occafionally to be ufed for Sails." The journal farther remarks, that of all the nations this celebrated Navigator had seen, "thefe people feem to be the most wretched."

When trees fufficiently large could not be got; the obvious, and almoft

only way of increafing the depth and width of a Boat, was to choose out fmaller ones with a proper bend; hew them down to its thickness, and fix them round its edge. From the Journal of M. de la Peyroufe, we find, with the addition of a covering of fkins, that accordingly this mode is adopted by the Indians about Port de Françoife on the north west coast of America, in the formation of their canoes. In Portland island in the South Sea, in 1769, Captain Cook, in the Endeavour, met with a canoe where the bottom confifted of three trunks of trees joined together; those of another island, he saw foon after, being in their original state, "formed of the trunks of fingle trees, made hollow by burning: not carved, or in any fhape ornamented."

After Boards had in this manner been introduced, the original trunk dwindled down to a Keel; and the first advance in this new mode, of omitting the trouble of hollowing the tree, feems to have been, as in the Ekes, by ufing only two pieces, one for each fide; added to the Keel, and joined at their extremities. Such were the Flying Proas of the Marianne islands," the body of the Proa being formed of two pieces joined endways, and fewed together with Bark," as defcribed in Lord Anfon's Voyage.

Such alfo were

the Canoes of New Zealand feen by Captain Cook in 1770, which were fteered by two men, having each a Paddle, fitting in the ftern, and of which "each fide was formed of one entire Plank, about 12 inches broad, and about an inch and a half thick, fitted to the bottom part with equal ftrength and ingenuity."

Beyond this, the conftructing a Boat of Rows of additional planks, clofely united, one above another from the Keel to the Gunwale, was

but

but a fhort step, and thus far only the Romans seem to have come; for till then they had no Ships, when the Carthaginian veffel was ftranded on their coaft.

In fome places another thought very generally arose about the fame time with the Hollowed Tree; either from the scarcity of Wood, or from the occupations of such nations as were commonly employed in Hunt ing and Fishing. They formed their Boats of bent branches with basketwork, and, instead of planks, covered them with the skins of Land Animals or Seals. i his mode was befides attended with this obvious advantage, that, being lighter than boards, and more easily applied; it rendered them more suitable to their wandering lives, and employments. They could carry them over land from one River or Lake to another, and the materials of which they were conftructed were furnished by their occupations. Doubtlefs, for fimilar reafons, the Tents or Cabins uled by the Indians on the welt coaft of Hudfon's Bay, as mentioned in Mr Ellis's Voyage for the discovery of a North West Paffage, were formed in the fame manner, being "covered with Morfe and Deer Skins fewed together;" as were alfo their Bodies with those of the "Deer, Otter, and Beaver." Befides those of the Ekimaux, and other rude Nations, of this kind the Boats of the Ancient Britons are described to have been, by Cæfar and Pliny.

Lord Kames, in his Sketches of the History of Man, B. 1. Sk. 4. ad vances the following, though unfupported, Theory on this fubject with much confidence: " With refpect to Naval Architecture, the firft veffels were Beams joined together, and covered with Planks, pushed along with poles in shallow water, and in deep water drawn by animals on the fhore. To thefe fucceeded Trunks of Trees cut hollow, termed by the Greeks

66 UB

Monoxyles. The next were Planka joined together in form of a Monoxyle. The thought of imitating a Fish advanced Naval Architecture. A Prow was conftructed in imitation of the Head, a Stern with a moveable Helm, in imitation of the Tail, and Oars in imitation of the Fins Sails were at last added; which invention was fo carly that the contriver is unknown." To fome, however, it may not, without evidence, be altogether clear; that men in fo barbarous a ftate as not even to have Trunk Boats, but only "Beams joined together and covered with Planks;" fhould have tackle, proper fide tracks, as on a Dutch canal, and domefticated animals trained to the Draught, fo as that "in deep water” thefe Rafts, here called "Veffels," fhould be "drawn by Animals on the fhore." Neither is it obvious that, before the invention of Sails, the "contriver" of which, Daedalus, at leaft among the Greeks, is not known," the thought of imitating a Fish advanced Naval Architecture." For the firft Boats on the Mediterranean are faid to have been round; and all the accounts we have of the many favage nations in the World, even of thofe acquainted with the use of Sails, from the time of Columbus to that of Captain Vancouver in 1795, reprefent the fhape of their Veffels, with their methods of Steering, and Paddling, as altogether dif ferent from the appearance and management of the Body, Tail, or Fins, of any Fifh that fwins; with whose figures, or operations, even were those of their Fins, when in the water, confpicuous, any farther than as Articles of Food, they probably never thought it concerned them to take up their attention. The conceit, in the latter part of this Theory, is notwithstanding repeated from the opinions both of the Ancients, and of v. le President de Goguet; which makes it the more remarkable, as

having paffed, unchallenged, through fo much genius and difcernment.

If we either choose, in this inftance, to throw off the fetters of Antiquity; or, difdaining to lie under an obligation to an inferior animal, to have recourfe to accident, altogether unaffited by imitation; the moft plaufible account, from the various facts of which we have received diftinct information, of the rife and progreffive beginnings of this aftonishing Art, is perhaps the following one.

The first attempts at Navigation feem evidently to have been made for the purpose of croffing rivers, or perhaps of landing on a neighbouring iland from the border of a lake. As it is on the banks of rivers and lakes that woods are chiefly to be met with, it would frequently happen that trees and branches, fometimes lying across each other, and entangled and covered with twigs, and matted with leaves, would be carried down the ftream, almost every flood, till they were either launched into a lake, or loft in the fea. It is to fuch fituations, likewife, as the warmest, and most convenient for Hunting, Fowling, and Fishing, that men ufually refort. But no fooner had a Savage from his Hut, obferved one of thefe Natural Rafts drifting along; and, from curiofity, or fome other motive, had overtaken it by fwimming; or had stopped it whilft caught by a rock, or whilft lingering on a pool; than he would immediately find, that by means of one of the lightest of the trees, ufed as a Pole, he could not only avoid the neceffity of fwimming from one fide of the river to the other; but could transport, with much more eafe on fuch a Vehicle, both his Weapons over the river, and his Spoils on returning. Alfo that he could Fish more fuccefsfully when thus carried about, than when confined to the fhore. These Natural Rafts, are the Floating Islands of which there are fo many fabulous traditions, from the

wish to excite furprife, and a love for the marvellous, especially among thofe of an unimproved ftate, around every Lake, which has Wood on its borders, or on the banks of the ftreams by which it is fed. Climbing Plants, fuch as the Vine or the Honeysuckle, would bind the Copies of these Natural Rafts together; twigs, leaves, and heath, or fkins, would furnish Floors; and young Pines, or Firs, would make excellent poles for pushing them forward. When Lord Kames fuppofed the first Rafts were laid with planks, he was certainly thinking of people in a more civilized state, than those of whom he was writing.-As it would often happen, with fuch rude bindings, that the pieces of which these primitive Rafts were compofed, would not be very ftrongly united, the whole platform would, in fpite of every effort to keep it together, from various caufes, in numberlefs inftances fly afunder, separate, and disperse. On meeting with fuch an accident, the pilot would naturally keep by one of the largest of the Beams, and endeavour with his Pole to fupport himself upon it, independent of the reft. That this is agreeable to fact, is evident from the account of Don Ulloa's voyage to South America.

"The veffels ufed

upon this river (Guiaquil)" fays the writer, are Chatas, Canoes, and Balzas, or Rafts, a name which fufficiently explains their conftruction, but not the method of managing them, which these Indians, ftrangers to Arts and Sciences, have learned from neceffity.

Thefe Balzas, called by the Indians Jangades, are compofed of five, feven, or nine beams, of a sort of wood, which, though knowu here only by the name of Balza, the Indians of Daren call Puero; and, in all appearance, is the ferula of the Latins, mentioned by Collumella. It is a whitish, foft wood, and fo very light, that a boy can easily carry a log of it,

three

three or four yards in length, and a foot in diameter. Thefe beams are faftened, or lashed together, by bijucos, and fo fecurely, that with the crofs pieces at each end, which are alfo lafhed with all poffible ftrength, they refift the rapidity of the currents in their voyages to the coaft of Tumbez and Paita. The Indians are fo fkilful in fecuring them, that they never loofen, notwithstanding the continual agitation; though, by their neglect in examining the condition of the Bejucos, whether they are not rotten or worn, fo as to require others, there are fome melancholy inftances of Balzas, which in bad weather have feparated, and by that means the cargo loft, and the paffengers drowned. With regard to the Indians, they never fail of getting upon one of the Beams, which is fufficient for them to make their way to the next port."

From fuch occurrences, and involuntary experiments, finding it thus practicable to support and balance themfeives upon a single Beam, with out the labour and materials requifite for conftructing a compound Raft; where it was unneceffary to tranfport articles of bulk from one place to another, and especially in Fishing, when quickness of motion and conveyance was of importance; people gradually and naturally took to the Single Tree Raft, if it may fo be called, with one Oar; alfo ufed on the weft fide of the fame Continent, in the Bay of Manta, not far diftant from Guiaquil. The one oar feems to have been nothing elfe, as indeed oars are to this day, but the original Pole flattened at one end to catch the water, and used as a Paddle.

"The Bay of Manta," fays the fame account, "was formerly remarkable for a confiderable Pearl Fishery, but it has been difcontinued for fome time," previous to 9th March 1736," the inhabitants not having ability to purchase Negroes

for carrying on this Fifhery. The Bay has probably its name from the great quantity of Mantas in those parts, the Indian inhabitants being chiefly employed in taking that fish, which they falt and carry to the inland provinces. The Europeans cannot help admiring their dexterity in this kind of fishery, which they carry on in the following manner: They throw into the water a Log of Wood, fuch as they ufe in making a Balza, being about five or fix yards in length, and near a foot in diameter. This Log will be fufficient to fupport the weight intended, which confits of a net lying acrofs one end of it; and the Indian ftanding in an erect pofition on the other. On this tottering veffel, affifted by only a Single Oar, he puts off to fea, about the diftance of half a league, where he shoots his net. Another Indian follows him on a fimilar Log, takes hold of the rope faftened to one end of the net, by which means the whole is expanded, and both the Indians move towards the land, where their partners wait to draw the net on fhore. In this occupation, the dexterity and agility of the Indians, in maintaining an equilibrium on round Logs, is truly amazing; for the continual agitation of the fea renders it abfolutely neceffary for them to be continually changing their pofition, and making different motions with their bodies and what ftill heightens the difficulty is, that the Indian is at the fame time obliged to mind both his Oar and his Net, in drawing it towards the land. They do indeed fometimes, though very feldom, flip off their Logs; but, being excellent fwimmers, they recover their Bark, and in an inftant place themfelves in their former pof

ture."

Such were also the Bark-Logs feen on the coast of California, by Captain Woodes Rogers, of which the following fhort account is given:

"They left the island of Tres