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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

lashed fast along each side without board, which keeps them from oversetting. Theseboats are very ill built; for I saw not any one ot them fit to row in any Seagate,or for any service, or to carry any person of quality in.”

The canoe of the most northern regions will conclude this curious class of vessels,the ingenuity of their contrivance, and their peculiar aptitude to answer every pur-pose that the wants or wishes of the possessor lead him to satisfy, are stronglyindicative of that strength with which Providence has blessed the human mind ;and its wonderful faculty of ministring, even when in the most uncultivated andrude state, to the necessities of the body, by contrivances and inventions whichwould reflect no inconsiderable share of honour on the genius and art of the mostscientific nations. The flying proa of the Ladrones is a specimen of Indian saga-city, adapted to the milder latitudes, while, in the more inclement, that of the Esqui-maux is certainly no less worthy of admiration. The materials of which these boatsare formed, are as curious as the shape and method of working them ; nor will it befound, on the most attentive consideration, that were this poor forlorn boat-builderable to select from all the materials furnished by every quarter of the globe, he couldpossibly make choice of any more peculiarly well adapted to his purpose, than thosewhich he first pitched upon, as it were, by instinct. In the first instance, it is indis-pensably requisite not merely that the vessel in question should be always removeableto a place of safety from that boisterous sea, which, while under the guidance of theowner, it is destined to brave the dangers of, but it is also necessary that in hisconstant and sole employment of fishing and hunting, it should be his almostinseparable companion, in order to enable him to pass over rivers or inlets of thesea, which would otherwise considerably retard and impede his progress, if nottotally prevent it. In any other selection of materials, it would be, perhaps,impossible to construct a boat capable of resisting the water ; and, at the sametime so light, as to be transportable with facility from one place to another.This difficulty removed, and the boat transferred to what may be consi-dered its proper element, its buoyancy on one hand, enables it to rise withthe utmost promptitude on the top of every w r ave, and bid defiance tothe raging element which surrounds it ; while, on the other, the same happypeculiarities enable the navigator, should any of those unfortunate accidentsbefal him, which will sometimes overtake the most expert, to right his vesselwithout the smallest risk or injury, either to it or to himself. In respect to itsform, the bottom may be considered flat; the fore part of the body runs in a linenearly straight from the midship to the bow, which is extremely thin, and rises a

little