WILLOW. 271 



and stormy, that it is only navigable in sum- 

 mer, when the people of these countries pass 

 and repass it in small boats made of wattles, 

 and covered carefully with hides of oxen." 



, Gibbon observes, that " if the fact were 

 not established by the most unquestionable 

 evidence, we should appear to abuse the cre- 

 dulity of our readers by the description of the 

 vessels in which the Saxon pirates ventured 

 to sport in the waves of the German Ocean, 

 the British Channel, and the Bay of Biscay. 

 The keel of their large flat-bottomed boats 

 was formed of light timber, but the sides and 

 upper works consisted only of wicker, with a 

 covering of strong hides. These boats drew 

 so little water, that they could easily proceed 

 fourscore or an hundred miles up the great 

 rivers ; their weight was so inconsiderable, 

 that they were transported on waggons from 

 one river to another ; and the pirates who 

 had entered the mouth of the Seine, or the 

 Rhine, might descend with the rapid stream 

 of the Rhone into the Mediterranean." 



In Herodotus * we meet with a curious 

 description of the vessels in which the Arme- 

 nians navigated the Euphrates. These vessels 

 were quite flat and round like a shield, com- 

 posed of willow, covered with hides or skins. 



* Lib. i. c. 194. 



