2 t 2 2 The proas of the Ladrone Islands present another form of the canoe, the peculiar quality of which, we are told, is swiftness to the extent of 20 miles an hour; this results from their construction. The lee side, or that which is away from the wind, is straight, while the other is bowed out as usual. This causes both ends of the vessel to be narrow, and thereby exceedingly sharp, so that it pierces through the water the more readily, and needs no turning round when the voyager wishes to come back. In a rough sea they have a contrivance on the windward side of the proa called an out-rigger, (see Vol. III., p. 181, of this work,) to preserve a steady balance, and prevent its upsetting on the straight or lee side. The rapid motions of the swordfish would seem to have suggested the idea of forming these flying proas. The alder and poplar were used by the ancients for shipbuilding, as being hard and light woods, but oak and fir were chiefly sought after. The Greeks used chestnut and cedar, the latter of which they considered to be very durable. Cypress was valued for its not leaking, and elm was chiefly used for the parts of the vessel under water. Sometimes, in these days of nautical simplicity, a fleet of ships was formed within 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, however, time allowed, ship-timber was not always hastily felled, nor carelessly employed. The age of the moon, and the quarter from which the wind blew, were superstitiously heeded. Tacitus describes the Swedish boats, seen by the navigators of his time, as being like the Northern yawls of the present day, which are peaked at both ends. These boats were, in all probability, used for piracy, which in a barbarous condition of society, is the mode of gradually establishing commerce. A galley, the prow of which resembled the weapon of the sword-fish, was used by the ancient Greeks, as also in more modern times, for cruising against the pirates of the Mediterranean, whose vessels were of a similar sort. The materials with which the planks or other parts of these different vessels were put or fastened together, were various. Sometimes wooden pins were employed, and at other times they were connected together with thongs, made from the skins and sinews of animals; iron seldom, or never, coming within the reach of these primitive naval architects. The Icelanders and Esquimaux Indians were found to make their boats of long poles placed crosswise, tied together with whale-sinews, and covered with the skins of sea-dogs, sewed with sinews instead of thread. To stop leakage the ancients used lime and pounded shells, which being observed to waste away, pitch, resin, and wax were employed. Sometimes the crevices were first stopped up with flax, and then leather was employed for sheathing. We find sheet-lead used for the same purpose, and copper nails. For their tools they used flints and shells for cutting, while several of the bones of fishes served them to pierce, to saw, and to plane with. From these nature-suggested implements is derived, with improvements according to circumstances, a great portion of the tools with which the mechanic of modern days so зkilfully performs his work. ANCIENT ROWING-BOAT 35 We arrive now at the general term of boat, by which we understand a combination of every peculiar excellence afforded by each sort of water-conveyance mentioned before. The method of making and finishing off a boat is to be sought for in the science of Naval Architecture; but we may merely mention that, from the lightest and most substantial material, strongly compacted into the form which will attain most speed, and admit of most room and convenience for the rowers, whether they be one, two, or more, is produced the most finished specimen of the first and original class of naval structures. THE SAIL. ABOUT 1230 years before the Christian era, as far as we Many other voyages, under circumstances so novel for It is probable that some natural object, such as the wing of a bird, suggested the idea of the sail. By some it has been referred to the nautilus, or sailor-fish, which is seen in the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Polynesian waters of the Pacific. It is oftentimes observed in calm weather floating on the surface of the water, using its side-fins as oars, its hinder one for steering, while its dorsal-fin, which is formed from a peculiar membrane, serves as a sail. When wishing to go down all is drawn in, with a sufficient quantity of water to make it specifically heavier than its own bulk of water, it then sinks in an instant: when wishing to rise again it ejects the water. (See Vol. VI., p. 149.) The material of which the sail was usually composed was linen, or it depended upon the particular produce of the country which despatched a sailing vessel from its shores. A sail was, perhaps, at first most readily formed by the mariner's suspending his clothes upon a pole, In some countries they used leather, or skins of animals, for sails, as Julius Cæsar observed the Gaulish Venetians to do. Thus Hercules is said to have sailed with the back of a lion, because he used no other sail than his garment, which was the skin of a lion. In other countries they used sails made from twisted flax or hemp, as the native West Indians are found, at the present time, to use in making a sail, a sort of silky grass, plaited to the length and breadth required. We do not find more than one sail used in the earliest ages, or more than one mast; their vessels had not even a deck. The sails were commonly white, which colour was esteemed more lucky, though sometimes they were of other colours. The vessels were painted red and sometimes blue, which latter colour was intended to correspond with th cerulean appearance of the sea, in climes where the blue sky overhangs the watery expanse, undimmed by clouds and vapour. When we read of the black ships of Homer, we must remember that they took this appearance from the pitch, with which they were externally covered to exclude the water. Sometimes other materials were used to produce the same effect, and hence a diversity in the colours of the ships. Such was the sort of vessels which conveyed the allied army to the plains of Troy. The size and number of the sails increased with the magnitude of the vessels and the length of their voyages, all which depended upon the importance of the nation, which, in the progress of time, by the searching spirit of commerce, or the desire of conquest, advanced the maritime arts. The form and disposition of the sails in the vessel have been found to be different in different countries. We are told that, in ancient Egypt, the sail was suspended on two upright poles, so that it could be used only before the wind, as is the case with many of the South Sea Islanders, whose sails are made of matting. The sails of the New Zealanders and Polynesians are found to be of a triangular form, the former having the base upwards and the latter downwards; and, in a general view of the case, the condition of the savage state in our times will be found very much upon a par with that of early antiquity, at least as far as art and science are concerned, which consideration must be kept in view, if any question should arise in the reader's mind, as to why we seem to treat of the naval pursuits of modern barbarians in conjunction with those of the people who lived before the Christian era THE RUDDER, ANCHOR, CABLES, SHIP'S NAME, &c. BEFORE proceeding to consider the more perfect condition of ancient Navigation with reference to its effects, we shall present a brief view of some of its appendages in detail. The rudder serves to regulate the course of the ship, as the tail of the fish guides the motions of its body. The principle is the same in both cases. When the rudder is in a right line with the central, direction of the vessel, it is merely an enlargement of the keel. When drawn towards either side, it has to make way against a force of water, the resistance of which is in proportion to the angle formed by the rudder and the keel, and the rate of propulsion at which the vessel is urged along, or to the force of the surrounding current; so that the stern or hinder part of the vessel is forced aside out of its place by the resisting water, and the prow, or forepart, consequently, assumes an opposite direction, according with the movement of the rudder. It seems that the original rudder was nothing more than one of the oars or paddles held sternwise by the person in the boat, which natural observation and practice taught him to steer the vessel by. This practice is even now far from obsolete. The ancient Greeks, we are told by Homer, used only one rudder; but as their vessels enlarged in size, they used two, one at the prow and the other at the stern: con nected therewith by fastenings, termed rudder-bands, alluded to in Acts xxvii. 40; so that these were called doublestern ships, and could be propelled either way, without turning. Tacitus relates that the Germans used vessels of this sort. The use of the rudder-bands was to fasten the helm up out of the water, when the ship was left to drive, or take its own course; but, if they were loosened, as St. Luke relates, the rudder dipped into the water for use. We read of four rudders being employed, but nothing definite seems to be known of ships of this sort; nor of ships, which are mentioned as having two prows and two sterns. It is a general feature in the maritime affairs of ancient nations, that their vessels in general could be conveniently carried overland, when so doing would tend to lessen distance; and for this purpose they were oftentimes so constructed, that they could be easily taken to pieces; as was often done, when they wished to pass over an isthmus. They were also drawn up out of the water, even for a single night. Hence, it is clear, that they were for a long time, at best, but sailing-boats; and that the anchor was not needed. The need or convenience of this grew with the size of the vessel. The Tuscans are said to have invented the anchor, while some ascribe it to Midas, whose anchor was long preserved in one of the temples of Jupiter. But, whatever means may have been originated by any party to stay their vessels on the water, though the effect obtained was always the same, the instrument was various. The most ancient anchors were large stones, bored through the middle; sometimes they were made of wood, having lead inserted. In some places, baskets of stones, or sacks of sand, suspended by cords in the sea, served as anchors, by impeding the course of the ship by their weight. At length the anchor was made of iron, with one tooth, or fluke; and soon after two-fluked anchors became general. Sometimes they employed an anchor with four claws, or flukes; which seems to be what is meant in Acts xxvii. 29; although the ancients used more anchors than one, and usually dropped them by boats from the stern, contrary to the practice of the moderns, who let them down from the prow. The boat, being fastened to the stern, was usually towed along after the ship, unless in case of a heavy sea coming on, when it was drawn close up to the ship; as in Acts xxvii. 16. We learn from Bruce that the four-fluked anchor is still used by the Egyptians; and we should observe that St. Luke mentions that St. Paul was voyaging in an Egyptian vessel. Of the several anchors belonging to each ship, one exceeded the rest in size and strength. This was called the sacred anchor, and was used only in extreme danger; so that the phrase, to throw out the sacred anchor, was in process of time proverbially applied to those who were driven to their last shifts. We find, upon one or two occasions, mention made of iron chains in use for dropping the anchor. Cables, however, were generally employed, made at first from leather thongs, or the sinews of animals. They then used flax, hemp, broom, rushes, or sea-weed. The ancient Greeks procured from Egypt ropes and cables manufactured from rushes and sea-willow. We must not omit to mention the ancient practice of undergirding the ship, mentioned in Acts xxvii. 17. By this is meant the passing of ropes several times round the hull, to prevent the timbers from starting and giving way, when the ship, in a very rough sea, is strained, and apt to lurch. It is even done now, upon occasion, when the vessel is not very large; as we find in Walter's account of Lord Anson's voyage, who relates the undergirding of a Spanish ship with six turns of a cable, during a violent storm. It seems to have been the ordinary practice of the ancients, to place at the head or prow of the vessel an image, called the sign; which we sec also in modern times. This gave then, and usually gives now, a notion of the ship's name. The sides of the prow were called cheeks, as this part of the vessel generally showed a human face, and was decorated with paint and gilding (see the engraving in page 35). The part of the vessel which cut the water, was called the goose; a great similarity being fancied to exist between the ship and this bird, while on the water. At the stern, often carved into the form of a shield, and elaborately painted, were small streamers. Here also was set, or in some way delineated, a representation of the deity to whose tutelary favour the ship was committed. To this deity daily prayer and sacrifice were offered, and this was the naval sanctuary. Taking this into consideration, and that ancient vessels were universally named after some beast, bird, or fish, we shall easily resolve many stories of antiquity, which contain facts under absurd and unnatural guises. Ships were very usually termed horses among the ancients, which sets off in a clearer light the story of Neptune and Minerva contending for the honourable guardianship of the city of.Athens. The horse, which the former gave, was a symbol of maritime affairs; as the olive, given by the latter, was of agricultural peace and quiet. Though the victory was at the time adjudged to Minerva, we read of her being an early patroness of Navigation. We are told that the poorer people of Gades, (now Cadiz,) a Phoenician colony in the south of Spain, called their small barks horses; and we know that the Nubian savages, at the present time, call a sailing-boat " a water-mare." About 1500 years B.C., the Princess Europa, we are told, was carried off from Phoenicia to Crete, by Jupiter, who had assumed the form of a bull: the credible version of which story is, that Asterius, King of Crete, whose wife she afterwards became, went to her father's court, prevailed upon her to elope with him, and conveyed her across the sea in a vessel having the sign of the bull at its head, and the shrine of Jupiter at its stern. The chariot with winged dragons, in which Medea fled from the vengeance of her husband, was only a ship with sails. The Elder Pliny tells us of a boy, who was carried by water some miles on the back of a dolphin to school; the vessel, in all probability, having a dolphin at the prow. Arion, the famous musician o Lesbos, having made great wealth in foreign parts by his profession, was returning home by ship, when the sailors resolved to kill him and seize upon his riches. Playing once again, at his last request, a favourite tune, he leaped into the sea. A dolphin, attracted by the melody, received him safely on its back, and carried him again to the court of the prince, whence he had set out. Arion, doubtless, escaped by a boat, the fore part of which consisted of a dolphin. The flight of Phryxus with his sister Helle, into Asia, on the back of a ram having a golden fleece, and her falling through giddiness into that part of the sea afterwards named the Hellespont, or Sea of Helle, now the straits of the Dardanelles, is explained by considering that Phryxus absconded with an immense treasure in the ship Aries or Ram, and that his sister Helle, who accompanied him, fell overboard by some accident or other. The ship in which St. Paul sailed away from the island of Malta, had the twin sons of Leda for its sign. The Gemini were the patrons of mariners, and were deemed to be present with mortals, when a sacred light played around the tops of the masts. This light is now known by the people of the Mediterranean coasts, as St. Elmo's fire, and is due to electricity, which is attracted by points. Many of the signs of the Zodiac, and other constellations, received their names from the ships of early days, which the unaffected admiration of the times resolved to honour with immortal remembrance, by a belief in their translation to the skies. The people of Ægina, an island in the Egean, and of Crete, an island of the Levant, are among the earliest people, who pursued navigation. The inhabitants of Corinth and Corcyra were the first to form a fleet; but the Cretans are said to have been the first to possess the empire of the sea. THUS far respecting naval affairs in general. We must now observe that the vessels of the ancients were distinguished into two chief classes; each possessing its own characteristic features; war ships, and ships of burden. The former generally had no sails, but were impelled by oars, and were of great length; so that long ships was a term equivalent with ships of war. The latter were of a rounder shape, and were mainly propelled by sails. The people most distinguished for naval warfare before the Christian era, were the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans. One illustration of their war-ship and mode of fighting applies to all; as each one seems to have been tutored by its predecessor in political existence. War-ships were chiefly rowed with oars, that they might be able to tack about, and approach the enemy at pleasure. The number and appointment of oars became more nume rous, as navigation improved. There were, according to the size of the vessel, rows, tiers, or banks of oars; not placed on the same level, but having the seats fixed at the back of each other in the manner of stairs. The most usual number of these rows was three, or four, or five. There were, however, many vessels, which had more tiers; and the ship's class was determined by this property. The first long ships were rowed, we are told, with fifty oars, in the thirteenth century B.C,, and the notion of them was derived from Egypt, The size of this species of vessel, as depending upon the extent of the rowing-banks, became, we read, after many ages, enormous. In the reign of Ptolemy Philopater, King of Egypt, about 200 years B.C., a ship of forty tiers of oars was constructed, each tier containing one hundred rowers. This ship carried, moreover, its complement of sailors and soldiers, and was called the Isis. A still more wonderful vessel was constructed about the same time by Archimedes, at the command of Hiero, King of Sicily. This ship had in it banqueting-rooms, galleries, stables, baths, and fish-ponds; it had also a temple of Venus, the floors and sides of which were painted with scenes from the Iliad of Homer. There seems to have been a rage at this time for constructing these huge machines, which the deficient nautical skill of the times could not apply to any useful purpose. They resembled floating islands, and, indeed, we are told that these, and such like fabrics, were too unwieldy for use, and served merely for show and ostentation. In a word, if there be no exaggeration, which is much suspected, and we be under no misapprehension, which is much feared, respecting these accounts, they serve, at least, to show that human nature often impotently attempts to outdo itself. The most usual size for vessels, in the more perfect condition of ancient navigation, allowed five tiers of oars, holding three hundred rowers, above whom were two hundred fighting men. The oars of those who were at the lower part of the vessel, and, consequently, nearer the water, were shorter than those of the rowers above, whose oars increased in length proportionally as they ascended. We are not well informed of the manner of applying the oars from so many tiers as we have here mentioned, or even more; and how the mechanical force, necessary for working the upper and longest oars, was effectively brought into play, but such we see on several coins and other fragments of antiquity. Two large holes at the prow of a vessel, occasionally used for oars, were called the ship's eyes. It has been noticed by voyagers, that in the fishing-boats of the Society Islands, these eyes are made of shells. To bear up into the wind, Acts xxvii. 15, means, when literally translated, to present its eyes to the wind,in modern nautical language, to loof up against the wind. Ships of war had at the prow a wooden projection, covered with brass, termed a beak; the use of which was to dash violently against an enemy's vessel, and sink or shatter it. Pieces of wood, placed on each side of the prow of a vessel, to ward off or counteract the force of the enemy's beak, were termed the ship's ears. The Romans, having defeated the Carthaginians in several naval encounters, carried home as prizes the beaks of the enemy's ships which they had captured. These they hung up in the Forum, about the tribunal from whence the public orators harangued the citizens. This pulpit was, therefore, called the rostrum, which is the Latin for beak. Hence, a person about to speak publicly, is said to mount the rostrum. Over these vessels were certain raised platforms; at their sides were projecting stages, and on their forecastles were towers, on which the soldiers stood and levelled their missive weapons with greater force and certainty against the enemy: whereas the rowers, by their position in the hull of the vessel, were always secure from damage. Sometimes an attempt was made to sink the enemy by discharging a heavy weight of stone or lead into his ship. In the case of a siege on the sea-side, ships were connected together, along the circuit of water surrounding the walls; on which ships high towers were erected at intervals, to enable the besiegers to annoy the townsmen, and perchance to scale the walls, (see p. 40.) The besieged would, by means of a long lever, invented by Archimedes, lift the invading ships up out of the water; and suddenly letting them go, dash them to pieces. Towers made so as to be quickly raised, or let down, were used also in general naval engagements. Many ships had coverings of hides or skins, to protect all who were in the vessel from the darts of the enemy. The shields of the soldiers were usually hung upon the railing (see p. 40) which begirt the ship, and above which the stages appeared. In the event of an engagement, everything was put out of the vessel which would not be wanted in battle. If the ship had sails, they were furled and put away; and it is to be observed that the ancients always avoided fighting in stormy weather. The order of battle was generally that of a half-moon, the best men and ships being stationed at the horns, or wings, for the purpose of breaking the enemy's line by beaking. Sometimes the semi-circle was directed converly towards the enemy; at other times concavely, Upon some occasions the fleet was drawn up in a circle, as with the Peloponnesians; at others, in the form of the letter V, for the purpose of penetrating the body of the adverse squadron. Prayer and sacrifice preceded the battle, accompanied with the exhortations of the admiral. The signal for engaging was given by sound of trumpet, which was repeated round the fleet, as also by hanging out a gilded shield, or banner, from the admiral's galley; which vessel was moreover distinguished by a red flag. The battle continued as long as the shield, or banner, was elevated. A paan, or war-song, to Mars was chaunted by the party which made the attack; and a hymn to Apollo was sung by the victors. The admiral's galley would begin the engagement by endeavouring by a sudden, close, and parallel movement, to break, or sweep off, the whole set of oars on one side of a hostile vessel, which would thereby be disabled from performing any further manoeuvres; or they might seek to disorder the enemy's line by attacks with the beaked prow, while the soldiers assailed their rivals with slings and darts, and eventually with swords and spears. In fact, the latter part of the battle would more nearly resemble a landfight; for, when the ships came to close quarters, one party or the other would throw out iron grapnels, by which the vessels were locked together, and the weaker prevented from escape. This plan was usually resorted to by the party which was the inferior of the two in naval tactics. We find boarding-pikes mentioned by Homer as being used in naval encounters. To enter more into detail of this sort would lead us insensibly from our subject. We may remark, however, that if the country which a fleet was sailing to, was hostile, or if there was no good harbour, they would draw their ships on land and form a naval camp. The naval business of Athens had very great reference to war; but as conquest and the extension of dominion was the sole object proposed by the Romans in their as sumption of naval tactics, all the proper business of navigation, from the master to the rower, was allowed to lie in the hands of slaves, or of the lowest classes. Hence the Romans make no figure in maritime history. We have now to make a few remarks on the trading-| vessels of the ancients; premising that, in natural order, this should have come first: as marine vessels originated in the necessity for transport, either of person or goods. Piracy, or robbery by sea, deemed to be an honourable employment in the infancy of a nation, was excited and encouraged by the convenience thus afforded; and then followed naval war. The oval form of the merchant ship is, of course, to be referred to the accommodation of passengers, and the stowing away of baggage. It seems to have been flatfloored, broad, and of small draught of water, not very dissimilar to the Chinese junk seen in our day, which is thought by the best reasoning to be only a counterpart of The length of the trading the ancient ship of commerce. vessel was four times its breadth, while the war galley was eight times longer than broad. As the war ship, which had a mast, was distinguished by a helmet thereupon, and a banner at its bow, so a basket, emblematic of its nature, was suspended from the mast of the trading vessel. The common burden of their best and largest tradingvessels seems to have been fifty or sixty tons, though much larger ones are alluded to; to the accounts of which there is attached the same uncertainty as we previously spoke of in the case of the rowing-galleys. An obelisk of fifteen hundred tons' weight was brought from Egypt to Rome, and placed in the Circus by Constantius, where it now stands. The same vessel carried, we are told, more than eleven hundred tons of pulse, placed at one end of the ship to balance the stone at the other. Such vessels as these, called Ætnas, or moving mountains, were not valued for ordinary use, being too cumbrous and unmanageable, Merchant-vessels having to pass from one country to another, were chiefly governed by sails, as mere transports were towed along the banks of rivers by cords. We are not well informed what convenience the ancient mariners had for sleeping in their ships. Berths, for the convenience of passengers on board the foreign tradingships, seem to have been made at the sides of the vessel, as with us; see Jonah i. 5: but we infer that the restingplaces of the sailors themselves were of a chance-like nature, and no wonder that it should be so, as ancient navigation did not permit vessels to be long out at sea, or far from land. Ulysses, we read in Homer, slept on skins at the stern, and the rowers who, in the course of time, were selected from slaves or malefactors, reposed upon the benches where they had toiled. Any superior accommodation seemed likely to deteriorate the hardihood of the sailor; and Alcibiades the Athenian commander, Plutarch tells us, was censured for having on board a bed hung upon cords! AN ANCIENT VOYAGE. HAVING hitherto confined ourselves, in great measure, to the vessel and its detail, we pass on to the consideration of the ship, or fleet of ships, when making way over the waters; so that the observations which we shall here make will not relate to any particular order of shipping, unless so far as shall be specified at the time. The invariable time for sailing was that of Summer, when the heavens were genial, and the light of day exceeded the darkness of night; the means and experience of the ancient mariners did not permit it to be otherwise. Even with a smooth sea and fair wind, they could not for ages venture out of sight of the land, lest, in the apparently interminable waste of waters, they might be drifted about for ever: their voyages, therefore, to which they were tempted by trade and commerce, were a continual coasting; and vessels were, in certain circumstances, even towed along: being also often necessitated to land for provisions, they would not be long at a time out at sea, a thing which even the superstition of the sailors would have forbidden. Superstitious fears seem to have haunted sailors from the earliest to the present time; but these are, we trust, fast fading before the cheering light of the Divine Word. It was an article of belief among the ancients, that a soul which had departed from a body unhonoured with the rites of sepulture, was condemned to wander in sorrow for a hundred years on the banks of the infernal river Styx, ere it Could be admitted to a resting-place of bliss; being, therefore, in their landskirt voyages, at the mercy of the people of the coast, and impatient at the close confinement and restriction of the ship, having also their religious dread of the unfathomable and heaving deep, we need not be surPrised that ages upon ages should pass away, and the 39 the West, be still the limits with.in which the naval art was When a voyage was contemplated, the ships, whico nad A fleet, or number of ships, being, therefore, about to Sacrifices set sail, every proceeding connected therewith became matter of religious parade and solemnity. care of some deity, omens and prognostics were observed, having been performed, and each ship committed to the a smile. The perching of a swallow on the mast, or the and the trivial nature of some of them is such as to create sneezing of any person to the left, would so perturb the ture till the following day. When, however, nothing had minds of these enterprising sailors, as to delay the deparoccurred to mar the resolution of the voyagers, the ships were unmoored, and departed with oars or sails, or, perhaps, both, decked with flowers and garlands, and attended with prayers to Neptune and the other gods, from the voyagers a little out to sea, doves were let loose from the ships, which and their friends remaining at home. When they had got The ship of the commander usually sailed flying back to land, were hailed as omens of the safe return on foremost, conspicuous for its gaudy ornaments: the of the crew. three or more abreast, or alongside of each other, unless others followed in order, and, when fairly out at sea, sailed the weather grew rough and the sea unsteady; in which case they would keep off from one another, in order that the manoeuvres of each vessel might not be hindered. not continue sailing through the night, but anchored in Excepting under very favourable circumstances, they did some cove or sheltered spot; or they drew up their ships on the beach, that all in the vessel might repose until the returning dawn. If they actually got out of sight of land, headland, which they knew to lie in a certain direction. it was with the view of directing their course towards some In the progress of ages, as the knowledge of astronomy were made and collected, the situations and bearings of advanced, and various observations of the heavenly bodies places were, by these means, naturally attempted to be surmised. To navigate safely, and to trust oneself with confidence upon the pathless ocean, it is necessary to have always ready at hand, a safe and uninterrupted guide to the general principles of the loadstone were well known the relative situations of places. Though it appears that many ages before the Christian era, yet the polarity of a suspended needle was never dreamed of among the active nations on the western side of the ancient hemisphere, until within the last five hundred years. The early missionaries to China found that the compass had long been in use in that country; but that curious people seem to of civilization, beyond which they have never since advanced. have been the first to attain, in ancient times, a certain point So that the ancient sailor, who had the greatest skill and means which his art afforded, could look only to the heavens for assistance; and they, oftentimes, in the midst of such circumstances would be similar to walking with the his greatest difficulties, were obscured. coast, and scarcely venture off from the earth by night. eyes shut; it was natural for him, therefore, to cling to the But, after awhile, in addition to the motions of the sun and The ancient Greeks moon, it had been observed that certain stars towards the continually round a definite point. north never sunk below the horizon, but seemed to move stars, forming the hinder part of the Great Bear; but it noticed the constant revolution of the seven conspicuous more closely tracked up the northern point of the sky by appears that the commercial Phoenicians had already directing their attention to a set of stars, which kept on Greeks. This was the constellation called the Little Bear; revolving in smaller circles than those observed by the at the tip of the tail of which animal is situated a star, now star to that point which is in a line with the pole of the When the use of called the Pole Star. This is the nearest plainly visible earth, infinitely extended northward. nautical art advanced considerably, and various schemes of these observations had been made familiar by practice, the enterprise were formed, and effected with more or less success. To navigate in It has been well observed that it is a distinctive feature See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 115. |