30 



NATURE S TEACHINGS. 



divided between the sexes: the women cut large sheets of 

 bark from the birch-trees, scrape and smooth them, and then 

 sew them together, so as to form the outer skin, or " cloak" as 

 it is called, of the canoe. Meanwhile the men are making the 

 skeleton of strips of white cedar- wood, and binding them into 

 shape with thongs made of the inner bark of the same tree, 

 just like the "bass " of our gardeners. The " cloak" is then 

 gradually worked over the skeleton, sewn into its place, and 

 the canoe is finished. A figure of this canoe, as completed, is 

 given in the same illustration as that which represents various 

 forms of boat, page 7. 



The last improvement is that which was caused by the 

 necessity for large vessels, when planks or iron plates were 

 fastened over the skeleton. But, in all these cases, the vessel 

 is built on the principle of the thorax of a vertebrate animal, 

 that of the whale or a fish being an admirable example. It only 

 needs to take the skeleton of a whale, turn it on its back, and 

 the ribs will be seen to form an almost exact reproduction of 

 those of any ship being built in the nearest dockyard. 



RIBS OF FISH. 



I ha"\ e now before me the spine and ribs of a herring. The 

 fish was over-boiled, and the flesh fell off the bones as it was 

 being lifted out of the dish, leaving most of the ribs in their 

 places. When held with the spine downwards, and viewed 

 from one end, the resemblance to the framework of a ship is 

 absolutely startling, the ribs representing the beams, and the 

 spine taking the place of the keel. I have also before me a 

 sketch representing a section of a Fijian canoe, and it is 

 remarkable that even the very curve of the ribs of the herring 

 is reproduced in those of the canoe. 



