Liberia <*- 



pulsion in the ships of the Arabs, Phoenicians, Egyptians, 

 Greeks, Romans, Norwegians, Portuguese, Itahans, and other 

 Mediterranean peoples down to the thirteenth century. Then 

 oars were less and less used, were chiefly retained as sweeps 

 to aid the vessel when the wind dropped, or in negotiating 

 some intricate port, while the sail and the masts became more 



33. A CARAVEL (? OF GENOA), FIFTEENTH CENTURY: 

 AFTER JURIEN DE LA GRAVIERE 



and more important. But many of us do not realise that 

 sailing as a fine art and the differentiated forms and complicated 

 use of sails really only began as a maritime practice amongst 

 the European nations (including the North African Moors) in 

 the sixteenth century. The Arabs and Turks of North Africa 

 did a great deal in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 

 to abolish the use of oars, to elaborate sails and masts, and 



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