ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST APPEARANCES OF NAVIGATION AMONG THE ANCIENTS AND AMONG RUDE AND UNCULTIVATED NATIONS.

[From the Introduction to the Squirrel, or the origin of Sailing, a Fable, in verse, Robert Brown, Esq. Advocate.]

TH

(Concluded from our last, p. 199.)

66

are

HE hollowing the upper fide of the Log, to prevent any article the Hunter or Fither wifhed to carry with him, from falling over, now became an obvious and ftriking thought arifing of itfelf; and by finding its capacity and convenience thus fo aftonishingly increafed, would lead to the formation by fire or tools of the Tree Boat, wherever the Beam or Trunk was of fufficient fize to admit of its being made into one; and through it, as already traced, to that of Veffels of a more complex ftructure. In Don Uilea's fatisfactory and entertaining Narrative we find, that," the barks employed on" the River Chagare, near Panama in the Ifthmus of Darien; between Guiaquil and Manta Bay, where Balzas and Balza Logs; and California, where. Bark-Logs were used; of two kinds, the Chatos, and Bongos. The former are like the Eu ropean Veffels, compofed of feveral pieces of timber, but of a greater breadth, that they may draw but little water; they carry from feven to eight hundred quintals. The latter are formed out of one piece of wood, and it is aftonifhing to think there should be trees," from another place, ufually Cedars," of fuch a prodigious magnitude, fome of them being eleven Paris feet broad, and carry conveniently four or five hundred quintals." And at Cape Or. ford in New Albion, on the other fide of California, as already mentioned, Captain Vancouver within thefe few years found Canoes "rudely hollowed, each from the Trunk of a single Tree.” So that on the Coats and Islands of the Pacific Owhence we have learned, Ed. Mag. April 1800.

cean,

fr

by

especially when joined to that from the eaftern fide of the New Continent, more authentic and valuable information, as to the true appearances of mackind in a state of Nature, than from all the fabulous and real accounts of Antiquity combined; we have at one view the whole progrefs of Navigation in its firft ftages: From the Balzas or Rafts on the river Guiaquil, in South America, perhaps coeval with thofe on the Nile on the other fide of the Atlantic, to the improvements on the Tree Boat, equally common on the Old Continent, obferved by M. de la Peyrouse about Port de Francois, almoft at the oppofite western extremity of North America.

In the courfe of navigating the original Raft or Log, when the Pole was too short to reach any particular part of the bottom of the River or Coaft, the only poflible way of acting upon it, and which would be followed without any previous contrivance, was by preffing the end of the Pole, fince it could not make the ground, against the water; and, by repeating thefe infinctive efforts as quickly as potible, to fruggle or paddle it on, till the bottom was again within reach of the Pole. This would fhow, that the Raft, or Log, could be impelled forward without the affistance of the ground, and would naturally lead to the flattening the extremity of the Pole, that it might include more of the water in its breadth, and, by encreafing the oppofition, be ap plied in directing it with the greater effect. This fuperfedes the neceffity (as in the Theory formerly alluded to) of furnishing favages with tackle, towing paths, as on an improved Nali

vigable

thick, and tied firmly together with "alternately" with a "Paddle;" whilt the New Zealand Canoes are fteered by two men having each Paddle, fitting both in the ftern. In a fomewhat fimilar manner were probably navigated the primitive hollowed Boats in other parts of the world, without a helm.

frong plaiting, each fide was formed of one entire plank, about 12 inches broad, and about 1 inches thick, which were fitted to the bottom with equal ftrength and ingenuity. Seve ral Thwarts were laid from one fide to the other, to which they were fecurely faftened, in order to ftrengthen the whole.

"Thefe veffels are rowed with a kind of Paddles, between 5 and 6 feet in length, the blade of which is a long oval, gradually decreafing till it reaches the handle; and the velocity with which they row with thefe paddles is really furprifing. The veffels are freered by two men, having each a Paddle, and fitting in the Stern; but they can only fail before the wind, in which direction they move with confiderable fwift nefs.

"Thefe Indians ufe axes, adzes, and chiffels, with which laft they likewife bore holes. The chiffels are made of jafper, or of the bone of a man's arm; and their axes and adzes of a hard black ftone. They ufe their fmall jafper tools till they are blunted, and then throw them away, having no inftrument to sharpen them with.

"Their warlike weapons are fpears, darts, battle-axes, and the patoo-patoo."

Befides fhewing that at first there was no fuch thing as a Rudder, dif tinct from a Paddle; the fructure of thefe Veffels tend likewife to, prove the futility of the fancy fo long implicitly followed, that "The thought of imitating a Fish advanced Naval Architecture," to which neither of them have the most diftant refemblance. The "sides" of the Proa are very different" from each other; the head and the stern are "exactly alike," failing equally well either end foremost; and they have two steerfmen, one at each extremity, who, over its fides, Ateer the veffel

When the Paddlers were fatigued, or wished to relieve their arms; the only way of doing fo was to reft the fhaft of the Paddle on the edge of the Boat, fo as to throw on it part of the weight, and eafe the exertion. In the course of repeating this, it would foon appear, that by trusting it entirely to the fide of the veffel, the arms would both be freed of the unneceffary load of the Paddle, and would thus be enabled to apply their whole ftrength towards accelerating the motion of the Canoe. On find ing this, the making a notch in the Gunwale for the handle to lie across, and pulling in an oppofite direction with the face looking aft, was all that was requifite to convert a Paddle into an Oar.

The Steering-Paddle, likewife, be ing, from weakness or indolence rest ed over the ftern, and managed in the fame way as when we ftill frequently direct a Cock-boat or Sculler with one Oar, or when we make it fimply a fubftitute for a Rudder in fteering a Yawl, foon got a crook in the handle, that it might be held cafily when fitting, without railing the Blade out of the water; and, being hung by thong loops, on a couple of pegs, to prevent it from shifting, became infenfibly a distinct appendage to a veffel, under the name of a Helm.`

After thefe Improvements, it being. difcovered that a Row-Boat, if long, has a fort of refemblance to fome kinds of Fishes; frequently feen near it and connected with the fame ele ment; the notion that its form and management was furnished by them at first, was at once inconûderately Ii 2

adopted,

adopted, and has fance, no doubt from the fuppofed infallibility of the Ancients, been boldly repeated; altho' the Fins of Fish in water, are fo. far from being likely to ftrike the attention of a Savage, that they are fcarce vifible, or their movements discoverable, on close inspection. The Tail was likewife fo far from having any connection with the origin of the Rudder, that the Balzas or primitive Rafts were managed, inftead of a Helin, by boards placed vertically at the head as well as the ftern, and pushed deeper or shallower, as ciscumfances required, like the Paddles. ufed, fubfequently, by the Pilots at the extremities of a Canoe.

genuity, that his Pole, or another like it, might fupply the place of his Body, and a Branch fixed acrols it that of his Arms, whilst a larger Skin would collect more Air than his Mantle, and Thongs would do for Ropes and Bindings. Hence by degrees would the most common occurrences lead to the Sail, the Yard, and the Maft. When the wind op. pofed him he would have recourfe to his Pole; and when favourable, would indulge himfelf with the luxury of refl, by hoifling his Sail, on bis Mast and Yard, always kept erected and ready to receive it. The primary Rafts on the River Guiaquil, in Peru, fuppofed by the ingenious author of the Sketches of the History of Man, to be the first inhabited part of America, were managed by a Sail.

66

The refemblance between the Guiaquil, and the Nile on the Old Continent, in feveral particulars, is curious and remarkable. The poor, untaught, fcarcely human, natives of Terra del Fuego, carry in their Canoes large Seal-Skins' "" occafionally to be used for Sails." And even the Veffels of New Zealand in 1770 could “ only fail before the wind." It is not, however, by any means clear that Sails were at last added," agreeable to the theory in the Sketches; fince in the natural progrefs of fuch events as have been pictured, and were likely to give it birth, it may have been discovered prior to the Oar and the Helm, and only pofterior to the Raft and the Pole.

Excluding the shorter process of direct Imitation; the gradual difcovery of the Sail, without any great effort of genius, worthy, either of an EOLUS or a DEDALUS, or of a fearch into another Element for the dorsal Fin of a Fish, as Mr le Prefident de Goguet fuppofes requifite, may apparently be traced with equal congrui ty. A man would hardly have be. gun to push along his new acquifition of the Raft over a Pool beyond his own depth, when, in the courfe of ftanding up to look about him, or whilft pauling for reft, he must have noticed, that the wind, acting upon his body, made the Float glide forward in its own direction. On this being obferved, if the wind blew fa. vourably, his love of eafe would foon fhow him that he might fave himfelf the trouble of ufing his Pole; and that the more he increafed his bulk, the more wind he oppofed, and the fafter the Raft moved. The means Thefe Inquiries have imperceptiand material being at hand, the rea- bly extended themselves to a much dieft way of increafing his fize was greater length than was expected. by fpreading out his Skin Mantle, fo They do not pretend to the difcovefar as to form a kind of Yard of his ry of the Origin of Navigation, but Arms. This producing the defired only by afcertaining the First Ap effect, he would naturally endeavour pearances of the Art, and delineating to continue it without the neceffity the various Paths that have been of doing duty himself, and it would followed, to endeavour to point out at once ftrike him, without much in- fome others leading towards the

Foun

ON A CRITERION OF PERFECTION IN WRITING,

From Aikin's Letters from a Father to his Son.

YOU muft frequently, I doubt not, have felt equal furprise and disgust at the dogmatifm with which the most oppofite opinions relative to the comparative merit of authors are laid down in writing and converfation; and you must have wished for fome pofitive criterion to apply