and we are told of another great mariner, Ulysses, that having procured a bag of wind, he was returning home to Ithaca with a prosperous sail, when having fallen asleep just as his native isle was in sight, the bag was opened by the sailors, who suspected that treasure was concealed in it, when the winds rushed forth with awful violence, and drove the ship backward a distance of ten days' sail.

The flight of birds has been from the carliest times regarded as conclusive of the direction in which a ship's course should be set, and as late as the ninth century of the Christian era, we find Danish and Icelandic mariners placing their trust in this singular omen. It certainly speaks much for the intrepidity of these hardy seamen, that, without compass or quadrant, or the assistance of astronomical tables and almanacs, they should have ventured to launch their crazy barks on the stormy seas that wash the shores of Northern Europe, and for days and weeks together, trust their lives on the boundless expanse of sea, guided by the flight of birds, and the chance of seeing sun and stars.

Jonas, an Icelandic historian, tells us the way in which the flight of birds was made to act as a guide to the mariner. He says that when Flok, a celebrated Norwegian navigator, was about to set out from Shetland to Iceland, he took on board some crows, because the mariner's compass was not yet in use. When he thought he had made a considerable part of his way, he threw up one of his crows, which, seeing land astern flew to it; whence Flok, concluding that he was nearer to Shetland than to any other land, kept on his course for some time, and then sent out another crow, which seeing no land at all, returned to the vessel. At last, having run the greater part of his way, another crow was sent out

by him, which seeing land ahead immediately flew towards it, and Flok, following his guide, fell in with the east end of the island. Such was the simple mode of keeping their reckoning and steering their course, practised by these bold navigators of the stormy Northern Ocean.

The notion of lighthouses to guide mariners seems to have been generally adopted about the time of the Christian era, from the Egyptians. The small island of Pharos, in the Bay of Alexandria, had been joined to the continent by a causeway of a mile in length, about 284 B.C., and at the extremity of this mole, was built a white marble tower, one hundred and thirty-five feet high, on the top of which fires were constantly maintained for the direction of ships upon the coast. The expense of this tower was some 800 Alexandrian talents, or about £330,000 English. The tower was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. The architect, Sostratus, was ordered to inscribe on it, 'King Ptolemy, to the gods, the saviours, for the benefit of sailors;' but, wishing to claim all the glory, he engraved his own name on the solid marble, which he covered with cement, on which he formed Ptolemy's inscription. When the cement had decayed by time, Ptolemy's name disappeared; and the following inscription then became visible:

Sostratus the Cnidian, son of Dexiphanes, to the gods, the saviours, for the benefit of sailors.' Dexiphanes was he who made the causeway, mentioned above. We have accounts of various structures of this nature, erected at most of the harbours and naval stations where the larger-sized ships rode at anchor, secure from the swell of the seas around.

CHAPTER II.

Varieties of Craft in use in Ancient Babylonia-Sea-going Vessels in the Persian Gulf-Chinese Junks and other Craft-Navigation among the Celestials-The Vessels of the Ladrone Islanders and Peruvians.

To trace in detail the successive steps by which the primitive constructions employed on rivers and seas, developed into the wonderful marine structures in use in the present age, would require a volume in itself. But, strange as it may seem, we may, even at the present day, see almost in juxtaposition the rafts and boats employed in prehistoric times and the triumphs of the shipbuilders' art of the nineteenth century. At the head of the Persian Gulf, where the war-ships of her Majesty steam in undisputed sovereignty, there flows a river, on whose bosom still float vessels which have existed in their present state from the earliest dawn of history.

The best and most detailed account of the various descriptions of craft in use in Mesopotamia, may be found in the pages of the late General Chesney's 'Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris, 1835-37.' Anything relating to this country is of special interest, for not only is it commonly regarded as the cradle of the human race, but within its confines are the sites of those cities of prehistoric times, Babel, Accad, Erech and Nipur (the Calneh of Genesis), all built by the mighty hunter Nimrod' (identified by Assyriolo

gists with the Izdubar of Babylonian tablets), who lived 2250 B.C. In Mesopotamia arose, flourished, and decayed the Chaldeans, whose city Arioch (Ur of the Chaldees) was the site of the most ancient literature; also the ancient races who founded the kingdoms of Babylonia and Assyria; here ruled Ninus and his more famous Queen, Semiramis, and the monarchs whose edicts were supreme from the confines of Egypt and the island of Cyprus to the borders of China.

No records of navigation would be complete without some notice of the vessels in use among the races who founded the most ancient civilisations known to man. In Mesopotamia, the cradle of the human race, are found numerous specimens of the vessels used in navigation, from the hollowed-out tree on which the pre-historic man may be supposed first to have floated. The use of a simple log is very common among the people on the Upper Euphrates, by whom not only single trees, but also rafts of timber, are frequently floated to their place of destination. A better description of raft is prepared, of any required size, by lashing a number of hurdles together; and such means of transport are in use along the Euphrates and Tigris, but more frequently on the latter river. In places where reeds abound they are substituted for timber, and, in a surprisingly short space of time, a raft is prepared suitable for transporting individuals and their baggage across a river, the animals swimming by the side. The usual method of passing rivers is, however, by means of inflated skins of sheep and goats, on which the Arabs, male and female, fearlessly cross, or descend to a considerable distance along the great streams of Mesopotamia, for agricultural and other purposes, taking everything they possess, and even bowls of milk are carried in this way.

THE VESSELS OF MESOPOTAMIA.

39

In a country like Mesopotamia, a great desideratum is pasture for the cattle, and this is procured by the people causing the buffaloes and other animals to cross from one bank of the river to the other in the morning, returning in the afternoon in the same manner. This operation is generally accomplished without any other precaution than that of the shepherd accompanying the animals on an inflated skin, carrying his clothes, and a small supply of bread, upon his head. Two inflated goat-skins, attached to one another by means of a couple of hoops, form the next step in navigating these rivers; this custom prevails also in Central Asia, with this difference: that larger skins, such as those of oxen, asses, or horses, are substituted for those of the goat or the sheep; and with these, says Wendover, they pass rivers and other waters without loss.* Four such skins being attached by means of withes of willow, or tamarisk, there is placed over them a kind of platform, consisting of branches in layers, at right angles to one another, and reaching from side to side. This constitutes the smallest kind of 'kellek,' on one of which may be seen an Arab family moving with the stream from one pasture-ground to another, carrying its bags of corn and other effects. For commercial purposes, or when proceeding to a greater distance than is required in changing pasture-grounds, a larger construction of this kind is substituted, which, like the preceding, is extremely simple, and is described by Chesney† and by Layard in his work on his explorations in Nineveh.

A rectangular or a square platform, having a sort of well or inlet at one extremity, is first constructed,

*Voyage of Wendover,' 1239. See Purchas's' Pilgrimes,' vol. iii.

p. 62.

See the late General Chesney's Expedition for the Survey cof the Euphrates and Tigris, 1835-37.'