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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

To illustrate the description of the manner in which these vessels are built,it will be necessary to refer to the annexed figure.

The first stage or keel under a a , is formed of a tree hollowed out like atrough, for which the longest trees are chosen that can be procured, so that theseare never more than three in the w'hole length; the next stage under b b, isformed of straight planks about four feet long, fifteen inches broad, and twoinches thick ; the third stage under c c, is like the bottom, made of trunkshollowed into its bilging form ; the last is also cut out of trunks, so that themoulding is of one piece with the upright. To form these parts separatelywithout saw, plane, chissel, or any other iron tool, may well be thought noeasy task; but the great difficulty is to join them together.

When all the parts are prepared, the keel is laid upon blocks, and theplanks being supported by stanchions, are sewed or clamped together withstrong thongs of plaiting. These are passed several times through holes thatare bored with a guage or auger of bone, which performs its office with tolerableexactness ; and the nicety with which this is done, may be inferred from theirbeing sufficiently water-tight for use without caulking. As the platting soonrots in the water, it is renewed at least once a year, in order to whichthe vessel is taken entirely to pieces ; the head and stern are rude with respectto the design, but very neatly finished, and polished to the highest degree.

These pahies are kept with great care in a kind of house, built on purposefor their reception; the houses are formed of poles set upright in the ground,the tops of which are drawn towards each other, and fastened together withtheir strongest cord, so as to form a kind of Gothic arch, which is completelythatched quite to the ground, being open only at the ends; they are sometimesfifty or sixty paces long.

The inhabitants of the South Sea Islands form what may almost be considereda naval world of their own. Living as it were entirely secluded from the rest of theuniverse, though diffused over the surface of an immense ocean, the climate, ratherthe peculiar situation, appears to impart a consanguinity of ideas, which character-istically marks and divides them from every other people in the universe ; nor arethe ingenious singularitiesjust mentioned, totally confined to the South Sea Iflands

only ;