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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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This proved, though an alleviation of the mischief, by no means a remedyfor it. Wax and pitch were afterwards substituted to the same purpose, but thedisease still remained lurking in the system, though the violence of its effectswere in some degree corrected.

At length, accident perhaps, rather than study and attention, (for authors,owing to the high antiquity of the practice, have omitted to inform us when,or by whom, it was first introduced) gave birth to the general practice, whichhas been continued, with li*tie or no variation, down to the present moment.Pliny, lib. xix. cap. i, briefly but very clearly explains the whole process :—“ Stupa ea lini pars quae, proxima cortici, malieo stupareo contusa, stipaturinter tigna, et rimas navium dehiscentium the coarse part of that plantproducing what was called by the ancients linum, and by the moderns flax,being that which is nearest to the bark, or outside covering, was bruised andproperly divided by being beaten with a mallet, and driven in between the planksand seams of vessels, which would otherwise have admitted the water. Cur-tius, in his tenth book, affords a corroborating proof of this custom, observing,that the kings of Cyprus were commanded to provide, as a tribute to Alexanderwhen he meditated, after having conquered the east, the subjugation of thewhole world, brass, or copper, flax, (stupa) and sails sufficient to equip thefleet of septiremes, which he ordered to be constructed in the ports of Syria,from the timber felled on the mountains of Lebanon : the plant known bythe name of the mat weed, being prepared in the same manner, vcas alsoapplied to the same purpose. /: • j

Pliny, with much precision, and apparent attention to correctness, states,that the Belgac, inhabiting that part of Europe now called Holland, wereaccustomed to use and apply the fibres of an aquatic plant, common in thatcountry, to the same purpose ; but it is most probable, that very plant wasnothing more than a particular species of flax, the peculiar production of thatlow and marshy district. This material, observes the same author, beingintroduced into the seams, answered the purpose of caulking them, or ex-cluding the water, much more perfectly than the former method, of payingthem with pitch, which may be supposed to have then become exploded. Theinhabitants of Banda, according to Pontanus, were accustomed to beat orbruise, with a proper instrument, the bark of the plant called clappus, till thefibrous parts became separated from each other, and the whole mass was inconsequence rendered flexible. Having undergone this operation, it assumed,

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