536 



NATURE 



\Oct. 6, 1 88 1 



sheeps'iin on the roof of a hut ; and whilst it is engaged 

 in tearing up the bait it is easily approached and snared." 



10. Tlie Cayal {Bibos frontalis). — In the mountainous 

 districts of the oriental region three fine species of 

 wild cattle occur which do not belong strictly to the genus 

 Bos — the supposed progenitors of our domestic herds — 

 but to a slightly modified form, Bihos of naturalists. 

 One of these — the Gaiir — inhabits the Ghauts of Central 

 India, and is the well-known "Bison" of Anglo-Indian 

 sportsmen. The Gaur is very intolerant of captivity, and 

 although many attempts have been made to rear young 

 specimens for transmission to Europe, none of them have 

 ever proved successful, A second species of Bibos, the 

 Bantang {B. javanicus), is found only in the hills of the 

 Malay countries. It is more tractable, and examples of 

 it have occasionally reached Europe alive, though they 

 have not done well in this country. 



Of the third Bibos, the Gayal {B. frontalis), we give a 

 figure taken from a fine pair of these animals now in the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens, which were received from 

 the sister Zoological Society of Calcutta. The Gayal, as 

 Jerdon tells us, in a state of nature inhabits the hilly 

 tracts to the east of the Brahmapootra and at the head 

 of th ■ Valley of Assam, extending into the Mishmi Hills 

 and adjacent ranges. It is caught and kept in captivity 

 by the natives very extensively, and to this fact is no 

 doubt due the comparative ease with which specimens of 

 it are brought to Europe. 



The CJayal breeds readily with the different forms of 

 Domestic Ox. Many hybrids between the Zebu and 

 Gayal have been produced in former years in the 

 Zoological Society's Menagerie. 



SHIPBUILDING A THOUSAND YEARS AGO 

 lyrR- COLIN ARCHER read an interesting paper on 

 ■'■'-'■ this subject at the recent meeting of the Institution 

 of Naval Architects, as also at the York meeting of the 

 British Association. 



It is a well-known historical fact that as far back as 

 the early part of the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of 

 Scandinavia were a great seafaring nation : in many of 

 the great battles fought between the chiefs and pretenders 

 of that period — and they were not few — we find several 

 hundreds of large war-s-hips ranged against each other. 

 It seems to have been quite a common practice for the 

 young chiefs, in order to relieve the monotony of life on 

 shore, or to escape the consequences of some lawless act, 

 to equip one or more ships, manned by their retainers, 

 and to launch forth in quest of adventure, plunder, or 

 "the bubble reputation." And these excursions were not 

 always confined to home waters ; they were frequently 

 extended not only to the coast countries of the north of 

 Europe, but also to the shores of the Mediterranean. 

 Iceland was discovered about the middle of the ninth 

 century by Norwegian adventurers, and there are good 

 grounds for believing that an expedition starting from 

 Iceland landed and established a colony in the present 

 New England States nearly 500 years before Columbus 

 lived. 



But the descriptions which the old Sagas afford of the 

 vessels in which these expeditions were undertaken, and 

 these battles were fought, are very meagre. It was there- 

 fore looked upon as an event of great interest when, on 

 excavating a large grave-mound near the entrance to 

 Christiania Fjord, a ship, evidently from the Viking 

 period, was discovered in a wonderful state of preserva- 

 tion. There is reason to believe that this ship, although 

 comparatively small, docs not difter materially in her 

 manner of construction or in shape from the more 

 powerful war-ships, or from those used for long voyages. 

 She is probably a true model of the ships which carried 

 RoUo and his brave followers to the coast of Normandy ; 

 and it may therefore be assumed that a brief description 



of her, as she now appears from a shipbuilder's point of 

 view, may not be without interest. 



It was not to be expected that a delicate structure such 

 as this Viking ship could remain for eight or ten centuries 

 buried many yards under ground without sustaining some 

 damage, or that she should perfectly retain her original 

 form. It is rather a matter of surprise that the damage 

 is so small as it is. Thanks to careful handling and a 

 judicious arrangement of supports, there is reason to 

 believe that, apart from local strains and contortions of 

 form, the hull as it now stands represents very closely 

 the ship as she appeared when put into the ground. Mr. 

 Archer has taken off her lines with as much accuracy as 

 circumstances would permit, and, referring to these lines, 

 he explains the chief peculiarities of the construction. 



The principal dimensions are : — 



Feel. Inches. 



Length between the rabbets at gunwale 77 11 



Breadth, extreme 16 7 



Depth from top of keel to gunwale amidships 5 9 



The vessel is clinker built, and the material all oak. 

 There are sixteen strakes of outside planking, the ordi- 

 nary thickness l inch, average breadth amidships 95 

 inches, including I inch land. The lengths vary from 

 8 to 24 feet. The scantling is not, however, uniform 

 throughout ; thus the tenth plank from the keel is about 

 8 inches broad and if inches thick, and forms a shelf 

 for the beam-ends. The fourteenth plank from the keel, 

 or third from the top, is about 10 inches broad and I5- inch 

 thick. This plank, which we may call the '" main wale," 

 is perforated with holes for the oars, sixteen on each side, 

 about 4 inches diameter, and provided with a slit at the 

 after and upper edge to allow the blades of the oars to be 

 passed through from inboard. The two upper strakes are 

 the thinnest of all, being scarcely more than 4 inch. The 

 gunwale, 3 inches by 4^ inches, is placed in the usual 

 manner inside the top strake. The boards are throughout 

 united to each other by iron rivets about the thickness of 

 an ordinary 3 inch spike, spaced from 6 to 8 inches, with 

 large flat heads i inch diameter. The riveting plates are 

 square or nearly so, f inch. The nails are driven from 

 the outside, except near the ends, where riveting inside 

 would have been difficult from the sharpness of the vessel. 

 The nails are here driven from the inside and riveted out- 

 side. The garboard strake is fastened to the keel with 

 rivets of the same kind as those used for joining the 

 strakes with each other. 



The keel is of a peculiar shape ; it is about 14 inches 

 deep, of which 1 1 inches are belcw the rabbet, 4^ inches 

 thick at the lower edge, and only 3 inches at the rabbet. 

 The top of the keel is 7 inches broad, thus affording a 

 large surface for the garboard strake, besides combining 

 strength with lightness. Possibly also the increased 

 thickness of the lower edge may have been adopted to 

 improve weatherliness under sail. It is difficult to say 

 where the keel ends and the stem and sternpost begin, as 

 these run into each other with a very gentle sweep ; but 

 the piece of wood which may be called the keel proper is 

 57 feet long ; to it are joined a short forefoot and heel 

 piece by short vertical scarfs secured by double rows of 

 rivets. These pieces again are fitted in a similar manner 

 to the stem and stern-post. The posts are sided 3 inches, 

 chamfered to 2 inches outside edge. They are 15^ inches 

 broad outside the rabbet just above the scarf, decreasing 

 in breadth upwards. 



The framing of the bottom consists of grown floors 

 extended in one piece from shelf to shelf. The average 

 spacing in the body of the vessel is about 3 feet 3 inches 

 from centre to centre, greater at the ends : there are nine- 

 teen frames in all. The floors are neatly finished, of a 

 shape which combines strength with lightness and elas- 

 ticity. The lower surface has a flat projection in which 

 are holes for receiving the fastenings for the plank. The 

 way these fastenings are managed is very peculiar. The 



