HISTORY OF NAVIGATION. 27 



China was almost hermetically sealed against other nations, and Europeans 

 only occasionally obtained entrance into the cities and islands of the empire, 

 there were few European commercial settlements, and traders were obliged 

 to remain in the places prescribed to them. Hence sprang up the so called 

 factories. These were generally situated on harbors, or at least on basins 

 where the vessels of both parties could lie at anchor and unload their 

 cargoes. PL 5, jig. 1, represents the European factory at the Canton 

 harbor. 



3. America. Before the discovery of America by the Europeans, the 

 navigation of the natives was almost entirely confined to rivers. The small, 

 imperfect vessels which were originally used by the Indians have now almost 

 entirely disappeared. The canoes which they constructed were made of 

 large trunks of trees, hollowed out partly by stone axes and partly by 

 fire. With their simple floats they passed up and down their streams, and 

 often glided over waterfalls of very considerable magnitude. A specimen 

 of their navigation may be found in the jangadas now in use on the coast 

 of Pernambuco, and which often excite the astonishment of travellers. 

 They generally consist of three trunks of trees, slightly hewn, 12 or 15 feet 

 long, 8 or 10 inches thick, and joined together with three cross timbers.- 

 One of these has a hole to contain the mast, which carries the sail. Upon 

 the float there is a small bench two feet high, on which the steersman sits 

 protected from the water. A bag of manioc and a bottle of fresh water 

 hang upon the mast. Each vessel has two or three men. If the wind bears 

 too hard upon the vessel, the sailors cling to the opposite side so as to 

 preserve the balance. If the vessel upsets, which very seldom happens, the 

 men place a board underneath between two beams, which serves both as keel 

 and to prevent leeway ; they remove the masts and bench, placing both on 

 the new platform, and thus pursue the voyage as if no accident had taken 

 place. These jangadas sail closer to the wind than keel vessels, and with 

 great rapidity, often making ten miles an hour. Nearly all the coasting 

 trade in articles which are not damaged by getting wet is carried on by 

 means of these vessels, and they are frequently out sixty miles in the open 

 sea. A Newfoundland fishing-boat is shown in pi. 15, fig. 1. 



4. OcEANiCA. There now remains, in our survey of the non-European 

 marine, the portion of the world which modern geographers include under 

 the name Oceanica, composing the Archipelago of the great ocean between 

 Asia and America. We shall follow the celebrated traveller and geographer 

 Domeny de Rienzi in our division of this important portion of the world. 

 According to him, Oceanica is divided into the following clusters of islands. 

 1. The country of the Malays, or West Oceanica, the so-called Indian Archi- 

 pelago, with the island of Borneo in the centre. 2. North Oceanica, from 

 the Tropic of Cancer to the fortieth degree of latitude, on the west to the 

 island of Borodino, and on the east to 167° W. longitude. 3. Polynesia, 

 with the West Guidin Islands, Neville, the Caroline, Pelew, and Manner's 

 Islands, Cocal, the Sandwich Islands, extending to the south of New Zea- 

 land ; west to the island of Ticopia, and east to the island of Sala y Gomez. 

 4. Central Oceanica, with New Guinea, the Papuan Islands, and the islands 



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