340 The j'ounial of Forestry. 



the monastery of I'orta the duty collected at Caiuljurgh froiii the wood 

 transported on the llivcr 8aale for the use of the iiioiiasteiy. It is, 

 however, uncertain whetlier wood really conveyed in Hoats, or 

 transported on hoats or lighters, he here meant ; but in the year 1410 

 we find that a Ilhenish liorin was demanded for Hoats brought on that 

 river to Jena, and two lihenish stivers for those carried to Weissenl'els ; 

 and in 14;jl the floating of tindjer was undertaken Ijy private persons, 

 at their own risk and expense. "When the town of Ascliersleben 

 built its church in 1495, the timber used for the work was transported 

 on the Elba from Dresden to Acken, and thence on the Achese to the 

 place of its destination. This is the oldest account known of iloating 

 timber on the Elbe. A float-master was appointed in 1 504, who had 

 to give security to the amount of 4()U florins, so that the business of 

 floating at that time must have been of considerable importance. 

 Floating of wood was undertaken at Annaberg in 15G4, by George 

 Oeder, and at the expense of 4,000 florins ; and in the sixteenth 

 century the principle was in practice in Brandenburg, on the Elbe, 

 Spree, and Havel, in Bavaria, and in the duchy of Brunswick. 



As the city of Paris had consumed all the wood in its neighbour- 

 hood, and as the price of that article became enormoiis on account 

 of the distance of forests and the expense of transporting it, John 

 Eouvel, a citizen and merchant, in the year 1540 fell upon the plan 

 of cojiducting wood bound together along rivers -which were not 

 navigable for large vessels. "With this view he made choice of the 

 forests in the woody districts of Morvant, and as several small 

 streams and rivulets had their sources there, he endeavoured to 

 convey into them as much water as possible. This great undertaking, 

 at first laughed at, was completed by his successor, liene Arnaul, in 

 15GG. The wood was thrown into the water in single trunks, and 

 suffered to be driven in that manner by the current to Crevant, a 

 small town on the liiver Yonne, Avhere each timber merchant drew 

 out his own, which he had pre^'iously marked, and after it was dry 

 formed it into floats that were transported from the Yonne to the Seine, 

 and thence to the capital, and the system continues to this day. 

 Victor Hugo gives the following animated account of floating raits: — 

 " The traveller who ascends the river sees it, so to speak, coming to 

 him, and then the sight is full of charms. At each instant he meets 

 something which passes him; at one time a vessel crowded with 

 peasants, especially if it be Sunday ; at another a steamboat ; then a 

 long two-masted vessel laden M'itli merchandise, its pilot attentive 

 and serious, its sailors busy, and with women sitting at the door of 

 the cabin. Suddenly there is a winding in the river; and formerly, on 

 turning, an immense lafl, a lluatiug huuse, ])rc&ented itself, the oais 



