From Sail to Steam 13 



off into the water because it is so un- 

 stable. What then? May we not sup- 

 pose that the father of the boy, seeing 

 the exploit, began to think how that 

 log could be made something more than 



toy? 



The next step would be to scoop out 



te centre of the log until we see the 

 irst dug-out canoe in being. Then 



rould come the discovery that it could 

 >e propelled by a board, which in turn 



rould become a paddle, or perhaps a 

 >ole was used to push it up the stream 



-we may be sure that the first journey 

 ld be the easy one down. Later 



rould come some sort of a sail, and 

 n this was used we had really, in 



lose very far-off days, the essentials of 



ie vessel which reigned supreme until, 



ly, eighty years ago. 



The next step would be the evolution 

 )f the heavy log into a canoe built up 

 )f either bark, or thin wood, or even 

 >erhaps strong grasses treated with fat 



