14 Book of Steamships 



to make them waterproof. In the birch 

 canoe of to-day we have the direct de- 

 scendant of that type of vessel. From 

 the navigation of rivers the step to coast- 

 line voyaging would be easy, and then, 

 as the still very miniature craft grew, 

 we should find the braver souls putting 

 forth to another point of land which they 

 could probably glimpse on the horizon. 



Our Bibles tell us that the laws of 

 navigation were well understood in the 

 times of Solomon, and it is really a 

 point worth noticing that, going still 

 further back in Biblical history, Noah's 

 Ark was of practically the same dimen- 

 sions as the average sailing ship of a 

 century since. Of the Ark we may simply 

 say that we must consider her as the 

 ancestor of the present-day houseboat, 

 since she was not intended to travel. 



Passing rapidly on, we find the ancient 

 Phoenicians, Greeks, Egyptians, and 

 Romans all intent on improving the ship. 

 By this time the galley had come along, 



