HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



popular than history. Instead of trusting to these fanciful 

 authorities, we may form a very rational theory upon the matter 

 in the following manner : — 



Whether it was an insect that floated on a leaf across a 

 rivulet and was stranded on the bank, or a beaver carried down 

 a river upon a log, or a bear borne away upon an iceberg, that 

 first awakened man to the conception of trusting himself 

 fearlessly upon the water, it is highly probable that he learned 

 from animals, whose natural element it is, the manner of sup- 

 porting his body upon it and of forcing his way through it. A 

 frog darting away from the rim of a pond and striking out with 

 his fore-legs may have suggested swimming, and the beaver 

 floating on a log may have suggested following his example. 

 The log may not have been sufficiently buoyant, and the adven- 

 turer may have added to its buoyancy by using his arms and 

 legs. Even to this day the Indians of our own country cross 

 a rapid stream by clasping the trunk of a tree with the left leg 

 and arm and propelling themselves with the right. Thus the 

 first step was taken ; and the second was either to place several 

 logs together, thus forming a raft, and raising its sides, or to 

 make use of a tree hollowed out by nature. Many trees grow 

 hollow naturally, such as oaks, limes, beeches, and willows ; and 

 it would not require a degree of adaptation beyond the capacity 

 of a savage, to fit them to float and move upon the water. The 

 next step was probably to hollow out by art a sound log, thus 

 imitating the trunk which had been eroded by time and decay. 

 And, in making this step from the sound to the hollow log, the 

 primitive mariners may have been assisted by observing how an 

 empty nut-shell or an inverted tortoise-shell floated upon the 

 w r ater, preserving their inner surface dry and protecting such 

 objects as their size enabled them to carry. It has been aptly 

 remarked that this first step was the greatest of all, — " for the 

 transition from the hollow tree to the ship-of-the-line is not so 

 difficult as the transition from nonentity to the hollow tree." 



