212 



R. H. MATHEWS. 



on the Murray River in New South Wales or on the Gipps- 

 land lakes in Victoria. From Port Essington, which is one 

 of the most northern points of the Australian continent, to 

 the southern coast of Tasmania, comprises about thirty- 

 three degrees of latitude. These facts show the wide 

 geographic distribution and uniformity of our native navi- 

 gation, whether by canoes or rafts. 



With the exception of Tasmania and the portion of the 

 coast of Western Australia above referred to, canoes were 

 used in the same regions as the rafts. When a suitable 

 sheet of bark was not obtainable for making a canoe, a 

 raft was constructed in its stead. I have seen both canoes 

 and rafts afloat at one time on the same large lagoon in 

 New South Wales. 



Capt. Watkin Tench says the natives of Sydney Harbour 

 and Botany Bay paddled their canoes "several miles in the 

 open sea." 1 Lieut. C. Jeffreys says the Tasmanian natives 

 could "cross an arm of the sea or a lake in their rafts, 

 which were made to skim along the surface of the water 

 by means of paddles, with amazing rapidity and safety." 2 



Although the canoe is more serviceable for many purposes 

 than the raft, yet the latter possesses the advantage that it 

 is not so subject to damage by accident, or exposure to the 

 sun. Bumping against a sharp rock or other obstruction 

 may cause an injury to one of the logs or bundles of which 

 it is made, without interfering seriously with the buoyancy 

 of the rest of the raft. Such a mishap to a canoe might 

 damage it beyond repair, or even cause it to sink. Perhaps 

 this is the reason why rafts are so universally used. 



It has been said by some writers that because the 

 aborigines of Tasmania had no canoes, they must have 

 reached that country before it was cut off from the main 



1 • Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay/ (London, 1789), p. 84. 

 a ' Van Dieman's Land/ (London, 1820) pp. 127-128. 



