300 CHAPTER X. NAVIGATION. As the art of navigation was not invented by the Greeks, it will be in this place unnecessary to inquire very minutely into its rude beginnings. Most maritime tribes doubtless discovered for themselves the means of traversing such rivers, and creeks, and bays, and arms of the sea, as lay in their immediate neighbourhood and impeded their communication, whether hostile or friendly, with the various tribes on their borders. Another motive, moreover, which probably tempted men to trust themselves very early upon the waters, was the desire to regale on those dainty fish which abound on nearly all shores, and constitute among the most savage nations an important article of food. It will readily be believed that history cannot pretend to name the individual who in any country first launched his raft or canoe upon the deep. Nevertheless, tradition among the Phoenicians, endeavoured to supply the defect of history. Onsoös, we are told,' a primitive Arab hero, observing the trunk of a large tree overthrown, perhaps by a hurricane, near the shore, lopped off the branches, set it afloat, and committed himself along with it to the mercy of the waves. He had very soon an abundance of imitators. In every part of the Red Sea, on the Nile, the Indus, and the Persian Gulf, hardy navigators made their appearance, who undertook voyages more or less hazardous, in piraguas constructed of a rine des Anciens Peuples, p. 188. 1 Sanchoniath. ap Euseb. Præp. Evang. i. p. 23, bis. Leroy, Ma 1 single bamboo, or the shell of a vast tortoise, or of a wicker-work frame covered with leather 1-the coracles of our British ancestors still in common use on many streams in Wales. Occasionally, too, more especially on the rivers and shores of the Euxine, capacious, long, and sturdy barks were scooped out of the trunks of enormous trees, which were denominated Monoxyla, and seem to have been at one time or another in general use all over the world from the island of Australasia to the Arctic Circle. A specimen of those employed by our own forefathers may be seen in the colonnade of our national Museum. On the Nile were several kinds of barks peculiar to Egypt, such for example, as those which were plaited from the papyrus plant, or from rushes. Most extraordinary of all, however, were their boats of earthenware, in which, furnished both with sails and oars, they glided over the serene bosom of the river. 3 As soon as the Greeks began to apply themselves to maritime affairs, they constructed ports and docks in various parts of the country, where they built numerous ships, rude enough at first, perhaps; but improving by experience and study they in time equalled, and at length surpassed, the Phoenicians, by whom at the outset they may perhaps have been instructed. Among the greatest difficulties they had to encounter was the scarcity of ship-timber, for which they were always compelled greatly to depend on other countries. The materials, however, being collected, their shipwrights appear to have proceeded in much the same man 1 Herod. i. 194. In the sea of Marmora, a boat somewhat similar in form, though different in construction, is still used, and known under the name of piade. It is narrow, and "from twenty to forty feet "in length, very sharp both in "the prow and stern; it is built "of willow, and often beautifully "carved and ornamented." Douglas, Essay, &c., p. 13. 3 Herod. ii. 96. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 8. 4. 4 Cf. Hom. II. a. 316. Thucyd. i. 10. ner as those of modern times, laying down the keel, fixing in the ribs, planking, decking, caulking, and pitching, until the hull was completed. In their war-galleys,' constructed under the superintendence of a naval architect elected by lot, they exhausted all the resources of art in their endeavours to communicate to them the greatest beauty of form and splendour of appearance. Paint 3 ing, carving, and gilding, were called in to cover both stern and prow with images and ornaments of the most fanciful kinds, glowing with bright blue or vermilion, intermingled with scrolls and flourishes of other colours, and figures of burnished gold. Occasionally beneath the rim of the prow were bright cerulean bands, painted in encaustic and defended by so durable a varnish that they could neither be blistered by the sun, nor dimmed by the action of the sea-water. In this part, beneath the roots as it were of the acrostolion, were placed those ornaments resembling eyes, one on either side, over which the name of the ship was written.5 The sweep of the deck was a gentle curve, the lowest dip of which was at the ship's waist. On the poop stood a deep alcove in which the pilot took his station, protected in a great degree from wind and weather, and having over his head a large lantern, in which a bright light was kindled at nightfall. 6 Firm and lofty bulwarks rose along the ship's sides, protecting the mariners from being swept off in tempests by the passing surge. On the bows again, there was usually a square tower furnished with lofty portals, through which the combatants, 1 Vid. Gyrald. de Navig. c. xvi. t. i. col. 646. Thucyd. i. 13, seq. Athen. xi. 49. Aristoph. Lysist. 173. On the names of different classes of vessels, see Schol. Aristoph. Pac. 143. Eq. 1363. Thucyd. iv. 67. 2 Poli. i. 84. Goguet, iv. 261. Winkel. i. 26. n. 3 Lucian. Charidem. § 25. 5 Poll. i. 86. 6 In this he had a seat which was called iкpia. Hesych. in v. protected from annoyances on both flanks, poured, in close fight, their darts into the enemy's ship, or rushed forward to board it. At the very front of the prow, where our bowsprit is now placed, arose an elegant winding scroll, which though projecting slightly beyond the hull, could never touch the corresponding part of the enemy's galley until the iron or brazen beaks1 below had met and shattered each other. The rudder 2 consisted of two paddles placed one on either side of the ship, which was impelled along by oar and sail. The rowports of these galleys being somewhat capacious might, if left open, have shipped a great deal of water, on which account they were furnished with strong leather bags, in form like a woman's breast, projecting outwards, nailed to the circle of the rowport, and fitting tight about the oar. The rowers, to render their condition more comfortable, were furnished with cushions or soft-dressed fleeces." The merchantmen differed considerably both in form and general arrangements from the war-galleys. As in our own ships of burden, under the old system of admeasurement, the hull instead of sinking down sharp towards the keel, bellied outwards at the sides, so as to render the bottom al 1 Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 552. 2 Spallanzani in describing the preparations made by the Portuguese for the first doubling of the Cape of Good Hope, mentions, among other things, a double rudder, so "that in case one "should be damaged there might "be another to act." Travels in the Two Sicilies, iv. 201. 3 The sea-term vanρéσov which occurs in Thucydides, ii. 93, is very variously explained. Mitford (Hist. Greece, iii. 154) contends, that it means a sort of bag placed in the тpñua, or aperture through which the oar passed, and was designed to prevent the flowing in of the waves. This bag, however, as I have already remarked in pp. 289, 290, was called doкwμа. Poll. ii. 154. Potter (ii. 136,) thinks it was a skin on which the rowers sat. Lilius Gyraldus, (De Navigiis, C. vi. p. 627,) supposes it to have been that part of the galley on which the oar rested, and sometimes signified the oar itself. The Greek scholiast on Thucydides, (t. v. p. 399,) agrees with Potter, saying, that it means a sheepskin with the fleece which covered the rowers' benches. most flat. They were very much shorter, moreover, in proportion to their height than ships of the line,' which, from their slender elongated figure, obtained the appellation of long galleys. In trading vessels, much greater stress was laid on sails than on oars, since the crews could never be sufficiently numerous to furnish constantly fresh relays of rowers; and, in their protracted voyages, it would have been impossible for the same men to remain perpetually on the benches. The masts consequently were here of very great height, equalling, according to rule, the length of the ship, which rendered it practicable to crowd an immense quantity of canvass, but at the same time rendered them liable to capsize in a heavy gale, as is still the case with the Levantbuilt ships, which are generally much taller rigged than ours. They commonly gave a greater length to the hull of transports, though not altogether so great as to ships of war. Pirate luggers were always built without decks, and extremely low that they might be the better able to approach their prey unperceived. Their sloops, smacks, and lighters, together with all the other small craft employed in the coasting trade, exhibited every variety of form, but appear to have been generally stoutbuilt and well-appointed. 4 3 Respecting the tonnage and dimensions of the largest class of merchantmen, we possess little positive information. It would appear, however, that in comparison with the vessels engaged in the corntrade, between Alexandria and Italy, they were of |