Maritime Discovery: a history of nautical exploration from the earliest times

Preface

. In accordance Avith a general practice which, in many instances, however, Avould be ' more honoured in the breach than in the observance,' I lay before the reader this Preface, apologising for its appearance by the explanation that it is in the nature of an Introduction describing the objects and scope of the work. To Avrite a preface is not only a general, but an ancient, practice, as I was reminded lately when perusing a translation of a curious old book, ' The Visions of Dom Francisco De Quevedo Villegas,' ' made English,' in 1696, by Sir Roger L 'Estrange, a famous man of letters contemporary with Dryden, who gives certain reasons for following the custom of writing a preface, which certainly display great candour on his part. * This preface,' says L'Estrange, ' is merely for fashion sake, to fill a space, and please the stationer, who says 'tis neither usual nor handsome to leap immediately from the title-page to the matter.' Far other is my object in Avriting these introductory lines. Briefly, it is to point out that though Travels by Sea and Land have filled countless volumes, no com- VI

PREFACE.

. pendious Avork has been published dealing Avith the great subject of Maritime Discovery in a complete, if necessarily succinct, form. I do not lay claim to any originality either in the matter of these volumes or its treatment. No ' hitherto unpublished manuscripts' have been un earthed by me, but I have merely had recourse to the vast tomes in AA'hich our forefathers delighted to bury their learning and research, and thence have disinterred a continuous record of nautical research. The volumes of Churchill, Pinkerton, Hakluyt, and other old writers, treating of voyages and discoveries, form a considerable library in themselves, and even later authors, compiling from these, are too diffuse for the present generation of readers, Avho prefer knowledge presented to them in a ' concentrated ' form, like the extracts of meat which compress the nutritious essence of a bullock into a single tin.

This work, then, is in the nature of a sun'ey, but, I believe, every voyage of discovery, Avith its results, has been recorded, and, I trust, the reader will consider the task — which to me has been a congenial one, from a natural taste for geographical studies and some expe rience in this branch of literature — has been completed in an attractive form. Chief among the old authors I have consulted in that portion of the work dealing with the discoveries of the Spaniards and Portuguese, are Harris, Dalrymple, and Burney. The importance of the explorations completed by these nations during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries may be gathered from the fact that, from the date of the discovery of America by Columbus, and the exploration of the Portuguese Navigators, Diaz, De Gama, and Magellan, the daring seamen of the Iberian Vil

PREFACE.

. peninsula brought a NeAv World into existence, and defined the unvisited shores of the Old. Not only were the West Indies and the Spanish Main, together with the Avhole AA'estern coast of America, from California to Cape Horn, explored by the Spaniards, and the seaboard of the Eastern Hemisphere, from Cape Bojador to Macao, traced out by the Portuguese, but these nationalities diAdde between them the honour of having discovered the greater portion of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago and of Polynesia. Little was left for the navigators of Holland and England to do, though Tasman, Torres, Le Maire, Schouten, Houtman, and others have left their names on the roll of great navigators, and our countrymen, if behind these seamen as discoverers, are pre-eminent as hydrographers. Cook, alone of English men, takes the highest rank for the magnitude of his discoveries and the scientific and thorough methods of his explorations, for Avhereas all his predecessors were content to sight land and sail away after naming the chief points, he examined the features of the coast-line and delineated them on charts for the use of the world.

To the great navigator may be applied the eulogium pronounced by 'Junius' on the first Lord Chatham: ' Recorded honours shall gather round his monument, and thicken over him. It is a solid fabric, and will support the laurels that adorn it.' Others of our countrymen folloAved the noble example set by this martyr to geographical science, and among predecessors, Carteret, Wallis, and Dampier specially merit notice, as not mere circumnavigators like Drake, Anson, and Byron. Not that we would appear to depreciate the services of the grand seamen of the heroic

PREFACE.

. A'lll age of Elizabeth and the Georges, who founded and consolidated that empire of the sea which is England's charter of freedom for herself and for those oppressed nationalities whose shores can be reached by the cannon of her ships : o ' See Britain's Empire ! lo ! the watery vast Wide waves diffusing the cerulean plain.' England, if behind some European nations in maritime discovery, holds the lead in Arctic exploration. In this department of research, British sailors, from the time Avhen Sir Hugh Willoughby perished in Lapland, have been pre-eminent, though the seamen of Holland and of Scandinavia have run them close in the race for Arctic laurels. But there seems a slackening in this honourable riA'alry on our part, and it has been reserA*ed for an American officer — and the greater the credit to him— to trace the footsteps of Franklin's party in then last journey, while our Government have alone declined to participate in the international project for a systematic exploration of the polar area.

The nation surely would not grudge the small expenditure necessary for this country to assist in this praiseAvorthy effort, if not to resume her place in the van of Arctic Exploration. In a time of peace which, as concerns our naA'y, has been a prolonged one, some channel should be found for that natural ardour for Avhich war alone can pro- A'ide an adequate outlet, and, confessedly, the Arctic school is the best for the cultivation of those manly virtues, such as fortitude, devotion to duty, courage, and self-sacrifice, which are the safeguard of nations and

PREFACE.

IX have made England Avhat she is, the mistress of the seas and the possessor of the most Avidely extended colonial empire the world has knoAA'n. It is our duty to keep aliA'e the honourable traditions of the British Navy, in Avhich the country takes a special pride, as the model and standard of those of other countries, and that one of our public institutions AA'hich the jealous foreigner, even the German, that ' Sir Oracle' of the Continent, cannot teach us how to better. We should not place too much confidence in that ' silver streak ' of sea AA'hich diA'ides us from nations Avho have in array millions of armed men, but, as Cymbeline's queen says, trust rather to ' the natural bravery of our isle ' than to the accident of its standing ' As Neptune's park, ribb'd and paled in With rooks unscalable and roaring water; With sands that Avill not bear our enemies' boats But suck them up to the topmast.' C. R. LOW.

Kensington, April, 1881. PACE 36 69 8G 104 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTEE I. The Vessels of the Ancients — Ship-building among the Phœnicians — The Origin of the Sail, Eudder, Anchor, and Cable — Notes on the Attic and Eoman Triremes — Ancient Mariners and their Superstitions — The Art of Navigation among the Ancients , . . . . . 1- CHAPTEE II. Varieties of Craft in use in Ancient Babylonia — Sea-going Vessels in the Persian Gulf — Chinese Junks and other Craft — Navigation among the Celestials — The Vessels of the Ladrone Islanders and Peruvians ...... 37 CHAPTEE III. The Phœnicians and Carthaginians, and their Maritime Eesearches — The Voyage of Jason — The Fleets of Solomon and the Land of Ophir — The Voyages of Scylax, Sataspes, and Jambulus — — The Discoveries of Hanno — The Phœnicians in Cornwall — State of Geographical KnoAvledge among the Ancients . 70- CHAPTEE IV.

The Voyage of Næarchus from the Mouth of the Indus to the Eiver Karoon — Eudoxus' Attempt to circumnavigate Africa — Early Trading Ventures to the Indian Ocean — Travellers' Stories of the East — The Discovery of the Monsoons by Hippalus — Ancient Eoman Trading Fleets . . 87 — PAGE 117 158 1G7 191 219 xu CONTENTS. CHAPTEE V. The Saracens as a Maritime Nation — The Narratives of Soleiman, Massoudi, Abulfeda, Edrisi, and Ibn Batuta — Tho Traditional Voyage to America of Madoc — The Search for the Land of Gog and Magog . . . . . .1 05— CHAPTEE VI. The Art of Navigation among the Britons — Improvement in Ship-building by Alfred and the Saxon Kings — King Alfred despatches the First English Ship to the Arctic Eegions — The Discovery of the Faroe Islands and Iceland by tho Norsemen — Discovery and Colonisation of Greenland in the Eleventh Century. — Supposed Discovery of America — The Voyage of the Zeno Brothers — The State of Navigation in the Middle Ages — - The Genoese and Venetians — The Eise of the Hanseatic League — -The Merchant Ships of the Middle Ages — The Introduction of Aids to Navigation ..... 118 — '.

CHAPTEE VII. Prince Henry the ' Navigator,' and Portuguese Maritime Eesearch — Discovery of the Islands and Capes of AVest Africa — The Legend of Prester John — Further Discoveries on the AVest Coast of Africa — Diaz rouuds the Cape of Good Hope 159 — CHAPTEE VIIL Survey of European Intercourse with, and Knowledge of, India, from the Time of Alexander the Great to the Landing of De Gama at Calicut . . . . .168— CHAPTEE IX. The Voyage of Vasco de Gama to India — Cabral establishes the First European Factory in India — Other Portuguese Expeditions to India — Almeida appointed Viceroy of the Indies — Discovery of Tristan da Cunha and Madagascar — Almeida is succeeded as Viceroy by the great Albuquerque — His Career and Conquests — Death and Character of Albuquerque —Decline of the Portuguese PoAver in the East — The Establishment of the Portuguese at Macao, and a Sketch of their Eelations with China — Portuguese Discoveries in the Far East — A Portuguese Fleet traverses the Eed Sea as far as Suez — Decline of Portugal in the East ...... 192 — : CONTEXTS.

XLLL CHAPTEE X. PAGE The Early Voyages of the English East India Company — Formation of the Dutch Settlements in the Far East — Brief History of tho French East India Company — Voyage of Commodore Beaulieu — Eise and Progress of the French, Danish, and SAvedish East India Companies . . . 220 — 215 CHAPTEE XI. Christopher Columbus and his Times — His First Voyage to America in 1492, and Discovery of San Salvador — The First Spanish Colony founded at Hispaniola — Columbus's Second Voyage, and Discovery of Dominica, the Antilles, Porto Eico, Cuba and Jamaica — Third Voyage of Columbus to the West Indies, and Discovery of Trinidad and the Coast of South America — The Voyage of Americus Vespucci — Exploration of the Coast of South America by Pinzon, and Discovery of Brazil by Cabral — Columbus's Fourth Voyage and Exploration of the Coast adjacent to the Isthmus of Panama— Death and Character of Columbus ...... 216—266 CHAPTEE XII.

Sebastian Cabot and his Family — Discovery of Labrador and NeAvfoundland — The Voyage and sad Fate of Gaspar de Corto Eeal — Cabot explores the Eiver La Plata — Jacques Carthier colonises Canada — The Discoveries of Spanish Navigators — The Voyage of Juan Ponce de Leon on the Coast of Florida, and of Diego Velasquez in Central America — The Career of Hernando Cortez as a Navigator— Discovery of California by Francisco de Ulloa — Nunez de Balboa sights the Pacific Ocean — Magellan rounds South America, discovers the Ladrones and the Philippines, where he is killed — The Expedition continues the Voyage, and making various Discoveries of Islands, completes the First Circumnavigation of the Globe . 267 — 285 CHAPTEE XIII. The Career of Pizarro — His Conquests and Discoveries — Orellana sails down the Amazon — The Voyages of Juan Diaz de Solis, Loyosa, Urdaneta, De la Torre and Saavedra — Exploration of NeAv Guinea by Saavedra — Discovery of the Bermudas — Voyage of Sebastian Cabot to the Plate Eiver, of Alcazova to the CONTENTS.

PACE Straits of Magellan, and of Grijalva and Carmargo to the Pacific — Exploration of the American Coast beyond California by Cabrillo, of tho Philippine Islands by Villalabos, and of the Chilian Coast by Ladrilleros — The Voyage of Urdaneta and De Legaspi, and their Discoveries in the South Seas — Discovery of Juan Fernandez by that Navigator, and of the Solomon Islands by Mendana ..... 286 — 302 CHAPTEE XIV. The English in the South Seas— Privateering Venture of Oxnam — Memorable Voyage of Circumnavigation by Sir Francis Drake — Sir Thomas Cavendish's Voyage round the World — The disastrous Expedition of Andrew Merick — -The Second Voyage of Sir Thomas Cavendish — Discovery of tho Falkland Islands by John Davis — The Voyage to the South Seas by Sir Eichard HaAvkins . . . . . 303—315 CHAPTEE XV.

Foundation of the English Colonial Empire — Sir Humphry Gilbert's Voyage to America, and Death — The Voyages of Captains Amadas and Barlow, and of Sir Eichard Grenville, who colonises Eoanoke Island — Eemoval of the Colonists by Sir Walter Ealeigh, and Eecolonisation by White — Ealeigh's Attempt to colonise Guiana in South America — -Voyages of Englishmen to the Gulf of Mexico — Unsuccessful Attempts to colonise Virginia and New England by Captains Gosnold, Pringe, and Mace — Permanent Establishment of British Colonists in Virginia, North Carolina, and New Jersey — Constitution of the Hudson's Bay Company — The Sailing of the May Flower for Massachusetts — The Settlement of the Bermudas, of Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton — Eenewed Attempts by the English, under Sir Walter Ealeigh and others, to colonise Guiana — The Colonisation of Barbadoes, the West Indies, and Honduras ..... 316 A HISTORY OF NAUTICAL RESEARCH FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.

Chapter I

The Vessels of the Ancients — Ship-building among the Phœnicians — The Origin of the Sail, Eudder, Anchor, and Cable — Notes on the Attic and Eoman Triremes — Ancient Mariners and their Superstitions — The Art of Navigation among the Ancients. Before entering on the maritime discoA'eries of the ancients, a survey of the ships and vessels in use among them will be necessary, as the retrospect shoAA's the A*ast disadA'antage under which they laboured in their A'oyages in comparison Avith us moderns. The most rude and elementary of all adaptations of a A'essel to float on the Avater, is the ' catermaran,' or surf-raft, for one person, employed by the Madras native, or the canoe, which is simply a log of Avood holloAved out and propelled by a paddle in the direction of the A'iew of the sitter; of such a character is the 'dug-out' of the South Sea Islander, and similar to it Avas the canoe which Arrian saAV at the mouth of the Indus, AA'hen the Macedonian seamen thought the natiA'es Avere digo-inothe AA'ater with spades.

In an expedition to the vol. I. North American coast, made in the year 1603 by Cap tains Pringe and BroAvn, of Bristol (See Harris's ' Collec tions of Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 222), Avas brought home from the coast of the United States, in 40° north latitude, one of the boats used by the Indians, which is described as , made of the bark of a birch-tree, sewed together with tAA'igs, the seams covered Avith rosin or turpentine ; and though it Avas seventeen feet long, four broad, and capable of carrying nine persons, it did not weigh sixty pounds.' These canoes were paddled with ' two wooden instruments like to our bakers' peels.' Scarcely less primitiA*e than the canoe was the coracle of our British forefathers, a basket-like structure coA*ered with hide, such as may still be seen on the Severn; and the A'ery similar ' kufahs,' or round vessels, which were in use on the riA'ers of Mesopotamia at the time of Herodotus, who describes them, are still employed on the classic waters of the Euphrates and Tigris, the author haA'ing frequently employed them in crossing the latter stream at Baghdad. ' The father of history' describes the kufahs as consisting of a frame work of willoAV coA'ered with skins, forming, when complete, a sort of large tub, which AA'as managed by two men with long poles, without any regard to stem or stern.

They were of A'arious sizes, and carried an ass ebsides the merchandise ; the animal was employed in con- A'eying the A'essel home by land, when taken to pieces, as the downward force of the river's current preA*ented the kufah from sailing up the stream. The raft, formed by the lashing together of two or more planks, seems to have been an early, as it is one of the readiest, modes for conveyance on the AA*ater. Thus Hannibal used rafts for transporting his horses and elephants across the Rhone. The Egyptians in very THE VESSELS OF THE ANCIENTS. 3 early times used the raft on the Nile. An improvised sort of raft was found in use among the Peruvians at the time of the visit of the Spanish discoverers, tapered at the prow in order to pass through the water more easily, the planks being fastened together Avith leather thongs.

The old timber rafts Avhich floated doAA*n the Rhine to Dort in the Netherlands, from the forests of Germany, AA*ere oftentimes 1000 feet long, and 80 or 90 feet wide, consisting of trees fastened together with iron spikes and cross timber, a floating island with a A'illage at the top, and requiring nearly 500 labourers to manage it. When the raft was broken up and sold, it sometimes fetched a sum of £30,000. The same method was employed on the coast of Norway, thereby sa\*ing the trouble and* expense of landcarnage. On a slight raft, the surf-SAvimmers of the South Sea Islands SAA'im out to sea through a violent surf, plunging under every breaker, and rising beyond it. In returning, they are carried swiftly on the top of a large wave towards the shore, when they steer among the rocks, taking care to recover their planks.

Superior in contrivance and effect is the construction of the pottery -floats of Egypt. A large number of the jars and various earthen vessels, which are made in great quantities in Upper Egypt, are fastened together AA'ith cords and tAvigs into a triangular shape, having the mouths of the vessels upwards ; they are then covered Avith bulrushes, and the raft is rowed and steered doAvn the Nile to Cairo, where it is taken to pieces, just as is done at the present day in the waters of Babylonia. In ancient times, a vessel was in use on the Nile, made from the planks of acanthus wood, so laid together as to lap over, ' clinker-built,' as we call it, and fastened with 1—2 Avooden pegs, the seams being tightened AA'ith leaves. It was also covered over Avith flags of the papyrus, and properly cemented, to keep out the water.

In process of time an acanthus mast was added, and a spar, on which AA-as bent a sail, formed of papyrus leaves. In ascendinothe Nile the vessel AA'as towed along; in its descent it was steadied against the effects of the north-east winds by a hurdle of AA'ood from the prow. The American Indians use Avooden-ribbed vessels, covered Avith skins, AA'hich vessels, owing to their light ness, can be carried overland, AA'hen it is necessary to avoid the rapids and waterfalls, or traverse the 'por tages' between the inland lakes. The Greenlander's canoe is coA'ered in at the top with a skin, so as to be watertight, and encloses the loAver part of his body when he is sitting in the vessel, in a manner rendered familiar to us in England by the tiny craft of the Canoe Club. The double canoe of the Society Islands, described b}* old A*oyagers, was an ingenious contriA*ance for affording a safe platform whereon the AA*arriors may wage battle.

Two canoes being placed alongside of each other, at a certain distance apart, planks are firmly fixed, across Avhich they make a stage safe from capsising. The Avhole is so contrived that the rowers may Avork under neath this floor, while the warriors engage hi battle above. The proas of the Ladrone Islands present another form of the canoe, the peculiar quality of AA'hich is the great swiftness resulting from their construction. Like the boats in use among the Cingalese, the proas are long and narroAv, and have a contrivance on one side, called an outrigger, to preserve a steady balance and prevent their upsetting. With regard to the form of the vessels employed by SHIP-BUILDING AMONG THE PHŒNICIANS. 5 the Phœnicians in ancient times, it seemed that those vessels intended for commercial purposes AA'ere AA*ithout keels, being flat-floored, drawing little water, and of great beam in proportion to their length.

Their floor-timbers AA'ere continuous, and, Avith the addition of one futtock only on each side (called by the Greeks ' egcœlia,' meaning the ribs or internal parts of the animal body) the frame was completed. Before the introduction of the keel, the framework of the vessel Avas formed of timbers bent round, and kept in the curved form by beams passing across, to which the timbers AA'ere bolted; but as this was a laborious practice, the keel* AA*as intro duced, by Avhich the necessary shape of the frame AA'as more easily ensured. The frame AA'as coA'ered AA'ith planking, the planks being fastened to it by large nails, or bolts, formed of wood or iron ; in the latter case, those that passed through both plank and timber AA'ere clenched at the end. It has been ascertained that the mode of doA'etailing, which is now so frequently applied in carpentry, AA'as known in those clays, for Avhen the planks AA*ere not long enough to reach from stem to stern of the vessel, they were joined end to end, the ends being dovetailed into each other.

The strengthening and improvement of the timbers and other parts of a vessel, assumed greater importance as nations became more involved AA'ith each other in AA*ar like operations. Accordingly experiments were made, and experience AA'as appealed to, as to the best kinds of AA-ood for ship-building. The Phœnicians, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans, successively directed their thoughts into this channel. The poet Thomson gives to the cities of Phœnicia, * The Latin Avord for keel is ' carina,' from ' curro,' to run, allud ing to the mode in which the keel runs or cuts through the water. Tyre and Sidon, the credit of initiating the navigator's art in the lines : ' The ports Of old Phœnicia, first for letters famed, That paint tho voice, and silent speak to sight ; Of art's prime source, and guardian ! by fair stars, First tempted out into the lonely deep ; To Avhom I first disclosed mechanic arts, The Avinds to conquer, to subdue the Avaves, With all the peaceful power of ruling trade ; Earnest of Britain.' The alder and poplar Avere used by the ancients for ship-building, as being hard and light Avoods, but oak and fir AA'ere chiefly preferred.

The Greeks used chestnut and cedar, the latter of Avhich they considered to be very durable. Cypress was valued for its being water-tight, and elm Avas chiefly used for the parts of the vessel under water. Sometimes a fleet of ships was formed Avithin a month of the time when the timber spread out its leafy arms in the forest — haste, not skill, being used in their formation. When, howeA'er, time alloAved, ship-timber was not alAA'ays hastily felled, nor carelessly employed. As ship-building adA'anced in general use and repute, practice and experience introduced certain maxims, some of Avhich Avere really found necessary, Avhile others AA'ere the result of caprice or superstition. Hesiod, for example, informs us that it was deemed improper to fell any timber for the purpose of ship-building, except on the 17 th day of the moon's age, because it being then in the wane, the sap or internal moisture, AA'hich is the grand cause of early decay, would be considerably lessened.

Yegetius extends the time, and allows that if trees be cut down between the 15th and 23rd days of the moon, they Avill endure for a long time Avithout perishing ; but he SHIP-BUILDING AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 7 a dds that, if that limitation be transgressed, the practice and experience of all artisans shoAA's that the wood becomes worm-eaten and rotten in an incredibly short space of time. Some suppose that the timber felled on the day of the new moon AA*as absolutely incorruptible; they were even attentive to the quarter from Avhence the Avind blew, and to the season of the year — for instance, in the beginning of autumn it Avas deemed improper to fell timber for ship-building, except the wind was westerly; or in the Avinter, unless it bleAv from the north. The materials Avith which the planks or other parts of these vessels AA'ere fastened together Avere various.

Sometimes wooden bolts Avere employed, and at other times they were connected together Avith thongs made from the skins and sineAvs of animals ; iron seldom coming Avithin the reach of the more primitive naval architects. To stop leakage, the ancients used lime and pounded shells, which being observed to waste away, pitch, resin, and wax Avere employed. Sometimes the crevices Avere first stopped up Avith flax, and then leather was employed for sheathing ; at a later time sheet-lead Avas used for the same purpose, and copper nails. For their tools they used flints and shells for cutting, while the bones of certain fishes served them to pierce, saAV, and plane Avith. Before proceeding further, it Avill be necessary to gi\*e some account of the origin of the component parts of a ship, beginning Avith the sail.

About 1230 years before the Christian era, as far as Ave are able to discern actual fact through the hazy and fabulous records of anti quity, the adoption of sails promoted the nautical art beyond former conception, and served as an epoch in history. The statements of the early writers of the Avorld, says Charnock, in his ' History of Marine Architecture,' seem to concur in describing Dædalus of Athens, the most skilful mechanician of the day, as the individual Avho first pressed the Avind into the naval service of man. Writers have tried rather fancifully, as we think, to explain some of the ancient legends found in Lempriere, as denoting attempts to cross the seas by sailing-boats. The bards of the time, Avhose recitations pleased in pro portion to the quantity of the marvellous they contained, recited the legend of the flight of Dædalus from the ven ireance of Minos, Kinoof Crete, and the unfortunate death of Icarus, his son.

Dædalus, say they, had care fully fitted to his own body, and to that of his son, Avings made of feathers and wax. Thus equipped, they took their flight through the air over that part of the sea Avhich lay betAA'een Crete and Italy. Icarus, with the rashness and unsteadiness of youth, sought a higher flight than his sire ; and, getting too near the sun, the waxen cement of his wings was loosened, Avhich, thus becoming powerless, he fell and was droAvned in that part of the Ægean Sea, or Archipelago, AA'hich bore for ages after the appellation of the Icarian Sea. The fact of the passage of one of these persons from Crete to Italy, and the drowning of the other, is undis puted, also that they went over the Avater and not over the land. Balloons being at that time unknown, it is supposed that boats were employed, and Dædalus and Icarus, cutting their Avay through the waters Avith sails SAvelled out by the wind, seemed to have flown over it Avith AA'ings.

According to this theory, the vessel of Icarus, who seems not to have had his sail sufficiently under control, was capsised, and thus, as truly said in the fable, ' he dropped into the sea and Avas droAvned.' Many other voyages, under circumstances novel for the times, have received the utmost embellishment of THE ORIGIN OF THE SAIL. ft the poetic art. AVhen Ave consider the surprise of saA'age races at beholding ships, like floating castles, Avith ex panded Avings, making their unassisted way over the sea, Ave discern easily Avhence arose the fiction of the flight of Perseus to the Gorgons, who, we are told by Aristo phanes, was carried in a ship. The story of Triptolemus, Avho Avas feign to ride about the Avorld on a winged dragon, doing good to the human race, receives a fanciful explanation in his having been employed by his country men to procure corn in a ship from foreign shores, for the supply of their necessities.

The AA'inged horse, Pegasus, is described as a ship of that name, fabled to have been the offspring of Neptune, the god of the sea. In a Avord, it is thus sought to account for the stories of ships transformed into fishes and birds, so frequently met Avith in the ancient poets. By some the idea of a sail has been referred to the nautilus, or sailor-fish, Avhich is seen in the Mediter ranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Polynesian Avaters of the Pacific. It is oftentimes observed in calm Aveather, floating on the surface of the Avater, using its side fins as oars, its hinder one for steering, Avhile its dorsal fin serves as a sail, Avhich is ' shortened,' in nautical phraseo logy, Avhen it is desirous of sinking. ' Sailing aAvay in his ancient shell ; Ho has no need of a compass like us, Foul or fair weather he manages Avell.' Again, Byron speaks in some picturesque lines of ' The tender nautilus, Avho steers his prow, The seaborn sailor of his shell canoe, The ocean Mab, the fairy of the sea.' The material of AA'hich the sail was composed varied according to the produce of the country.