202 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



from a log, either by fire or slow chipping, is a very 

 long way. This rude craft is innocent of the most 

 elementary equipment of a navigable vessel. The 

 voyager just kneels upon it as near the middle as 

 possible, with his legs wide apart, preserving a pre- 

 carious balance. He propels his vessel with a paddle, 

 upon which he has spent far more labour than upon 

 the building of his vessel. Store of food or water he 

 has none, but his rude outfit of fishing-tackle he puts 

 in a roughly woven mat bag, which he secures to one 

 of the seizings which holds his frail craft together. 



Thus equipped he puts out to sea, and, greatly 

 daring, ventures right off the land until he can hardly 

 discern it, in search of the primal need of mankind 

 food. How he manages to endure the constant strain 

 of keeping upright, the incessant wash of the seas 

 over him, the fierce heat of the sun, and the privation 

 of food and drink, is a mystery ; but the fact remains 

 that he does. Of course the constant wetting does in 

 some measure prevent the fiercer pangs of thirst, for it 

 is a well-known fact that thirst can be alleviated at 

 sea by pouring sea- water over the body. He is the 

 primitive seafarer, almost at the beginning of things 

 nautical, but yet far removed from the pioneer on the 

 floating log who first discovered how easy a road the 

 sea made from one place to another. Necessarily 

 the range of these primitive craft was very limited, 

 except under extraordinary conditions, presupposing 

 as much suffering as the human frame is capable of 

 enduring. Yet we have had proofs of involuntary 

 journeys having been made in the South Pacific from 

 one island to another in craft almost as primitive as 

 those which I have described, by natives who have 



