EARLY NAVIGATORS. 



35 



, The first object for obtaining motion upon the water must 

 evidently have been to enable the navigator to cross a river, — not 

 to ascend or descend it; as it is apparent he would not seek the 

 means of following or stemming its current while the same 

 purpose could be more easily served by walking along the shore. 

 It is not difficult to suppose that the oar was suggested by the 

 legs of a frog or the fins of a fish. The early navigator, seated 

 in his hollow tree, might at first seek to propel himself with his 

 hands, and might then artificially lengthen them by a piece 

 of wood fashioned in imitation of the hand and arm, — a long 

 pole terminating in a thin flat blade. Here was the origin of 

 the modern row-boat, one of the most graceful inventions of man. 



From the oar to the rudder the transition was easy, for the 

 oar is in itself a rudder, and was for a long time used as one. 

 It must have been observed at an early day that a canoe in 

 motion was diverted from its direct course by plunging an oar 

 into the water and suffering it to remain there. It must have 

 heen observed, too, that an oar in or towards the stern was more 

 effective in giving a new direction to the canoe than an oar in 

 any other place. It was a natural suggestion of prudence, then, 

 to assign this duty to one particular oarsman, and to place him 

 altogether at the stern. 



The sail is not so easily accounted for. An ancient tradition 

 relates that a fisherman and his sweetheart, allured from the 

 shore in the hope of discovering an island, and surprised by a 

 tempest, were in imminent danger of destruction. Their only oar 



