The Origin of Rafting Timber*. 



It is probable that the most ancient mode of constructing vessels 

 for navigation gave rise to the first idea of conveying tindjer for 

 building in the like manner ; as the earliest ships or boats were 

 nothing else than rafts, or a collection of beams and planks bound 

 together, over wliich were placed deals. The above conjecture is 

 confirmed by the oldest information to be found in history respecting 

 the conveyance by water of timber for building. Solomon entered 

 into a contract with Hiram, king of Tyre, by which the latter was to 

 cause cedars for the use of the temple to be cut down on the western 

 side of Mount Lebanon, above Tripoli, and to l)e floated to Jafia. 

 The words at least employed by the Hebrew historian, which occur 

 nowhere else, are understood as alluding to the conveyance of timber 

 in floats. At present no streams run from Lebanon to Jerusalem ; 

 and the Jordan, the only river in Palestine that could bear floats, is 

 at a great distance from the cedar forest. The wood, therefore, must 

 have l»een brought along the coast by sea to Jaffa. The Piomans, says 

 the learned Beckmann, transported by water both timber for building 

 and firewood. '\A''hen they became acquainted, during their war 

 against the Germans, with the qualities of the common larch, they 

 '.'aused large quantities of it to be carried on the I'o to Eavenna from 

 the AlpSj particularly the Ehoetian, and to be conveyed also to lioniu 

 for their most important buildings. 



Yitruvius says that the timber was so heavy that, when alone, the 

 water could not support it, and that it was necessary to carry it on 

 ships or on rafts. Could it have been brought to Eome, he says, it 

 might have been used with great advantage in building. This, 

 however, was sometimes done, lor Tiberius rebuilt a bridge with larch 

 planks procured from Ehcotia, and among these V7as a trunk 120 feet 

 in length, which excited the admiration of all Eome. That the 

 Eonians procured firewood from Africa, particularly for the use of the 

 public baths, is proved by the privileges granted on that account to 

 the masters of ships or rafts ; but there is reason for belicA'ing that 

 the Germans were the first who formed establishments for this mode 

 of conveyance on a large scale. 



The earliest inibrmation respecting the floating of Avood in Saxon}" 

 a[)pears to be as old as the year 1258, when the Margrave remitted to 



