CATALOGUE OF THE WATEECRAFT COLLECTION. 37 



Norway is noted because, at a very early age, the Xorsemen became 

 famous builders and navigators, producing vessels remarkable for 

 strength and symmetry, in which they not only cruised along the 

 coasts of Europe but crossed the Atlantic. A study of the beautiful 

 model of the Viking ship* will prove valuable and instructive to 

 everyone having an interest in naval architecture. Norway has a 

 large number and variety of fishing vessels and boats. "While, how- 

 ever, many of its vessels have square sterns, its fishing boats are, with 

 very few exceptions, sharp aft, ajid more or less closely resemble the 

 Viking ships, built a thousand years ago or more — an emphatic 

 demonstration of the wonderful results attained in designing by the 

 early Norsemen, and also of the conservatism of their successors. 



While some of the fishing craft of Sweden resemble those of Nor- 

 way, in a general way at least, the majority have peculiarities of 

 their own, which will be best understood by a study of the models. 



ASIA, 



The vessels and boats under this head present many features of 

 special interest, Avhich might be dwelt upon at length if space and 

 time permitted, but the limitations placed upon these explanatory 

 notes preclude the possibility of anything beyond the barest allusion 

 to some of the more prominent features. 



Natives of Ceylon have been among the most prominent of eastern 

 races in developing a boat having the highest possibilities of speed. 

 The Singalese outrigged canoe, of Avhich a description is made sub- 

 sequently, has been especially noted by American and European 

 sailors and travelers who have visited the island, and its construc- 

 tion indicates a genius for naval architecture so far as the attainment 

 of speed is concerned, which may well be the occasion of surprise 

 and admiration. . Apparently the excellencies of the outrigged canoe, 

 which is substantially a dugout, are so highly valued by the Sin- 

 galese that they have shown a desire to use dugouts in whole or in 

 part in the construction of other craft, this being a marked feature 

 of their boat building. 



As a rule, the vessels and boats of the region under consideration 

 indicate much skill on the part of the designers and builders in 

 producing craft in which speed is an important factor. By instinct 

 and training, the Malay has been a pirate for many centuries, and 

 his predatory habits have led him to exercise much intelligence in 

 developing forms of boats or vessels suited to his purj^ose. While 

 he may have come short of the highest attainment, it is, never- 

 theless, remarkable that he learned to perfection the wave-line 

 theory probably centuries before its demonstration by Fronde and 

 others who revolutionized ship designing in Europe. No sailor 



