40 BULLETIN 127, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Many curious forms of junks and cargo boats are employed in 

 China for trading along the coast or on the rivers. Generally speak- 

 ing, these are of crude construction, though some of the junks are 

 well built and are credited with considerable speed under sail. 



The majority of fishing boats used in China partake largely of the 

 characteristics of the junks, while some of them ditfer in no essen- 

 tial particular from vessels employed for carrying freight. How- 

 ever, dugout canoes and catamarans, the latter made chiefly of bam- 

 boo, are used to a considerable extent. 



The houseboat has been brought to a high state of perfection in 

 China, and in no country in the world has it been so extensively 

 utilized. The enormous population of the country has resulted in 

 causing thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands, of people to make 

 their homes upon the water. For this purpose they provide them- 

 selves with houseboats, and at many of the large ports there are 

 floating towns on the surface of the harbors or rivers. 



PACIFIC ISLANDS. 



It is not possible to discuss at length the characteristics of the 

 boats of the Pacific Islands, of which there are several specimens in 

 the Museum. It must suffice to say that, almost without exception, 

 the islanders have adopted the outrig type of canoe, some of which 

 are dugouts and others are built by fastening together irregularly- 

 shaped pieces of Avood. But, however constructed, the important 

 fact remains that these boats are remarkable for their speed under 

 sail or when propelled by paddles. They afford an interesting study 

 as illustrating the adaptation of means to ends. Ordinarily the 

 islands do not produce timber sufficiently large to make a wide dug- 

 out, but the savage has solved the problem of stability by providing 

 his boat with outriggers, to the ends of which is attached a balance 

 log, which is to his canoe what the lead keel is to the modern racing- 

 boat, M'hich has recently reached such a high state of development. 



There is much variety in the canoes of the Pacific Islands. Some- 

 times two boats are attached together by a platform, by which means 

 the stability is increased, and, with a huge sail, craft of this kind, 

 which are sometimes termed catamarans, attain a wonderful degree 

 of speed. 



