ls: this was all; it held
one or two men, and nothing but reeds or rushes were used in its
construction.

Rafts of distended Hides.--"A single ox-hide may be made into a float
capable of sustaining about 300 lbs.; the skin is to be cut to the
largest possible circle, then gathered together round a short tube, to
the inner end of which a valve, like that of a common pair of bellows,
has been applied; it is inflated with bellows, and, as the air escapes by
degrees, it may be refilled every ten or twelve hours." ('Handbook for
Field Service.')

We read of the skins of animals, stuffed with hay to keep them distended,
having been used by Alexander the Great, and by others.

Goatskin rafts are extensively used on the Tigris and elsewhere. These
are inflated through one of the legs: they are generally lashed to a
framework of wood, branches, and reeds, in such a way that the leg is
accessible to a person sitting on the raft: when the air has in part
escaped, he creeps round to the skins, one after the other, untying and
re-inflating them in succession.

[Sketch fig. 1 and fig. 2 showing gourd rafts].

African Gourd Raft.--Over a large part of Bornu, especially on its
Komadugu--the so-called River Yeou of Central Africa--no boat is used,
except the following ingenious contrivance. It is called a "makara," or
boat pareminence.

Two large open gourds are nicely balanced, and fixed, bottom downwards,
on a bar or yoke of light wood, 4 feet long, 4 1/2 inches wide, and 3/4
or 1 inch thick. The fisherman, or traveller, packs his gear into the
gourds; launches the makara into the river, and seats himself astride the
bar. He then paddles off, with help of his hands (fig. 1). When he leaves
the river, he carries the makara on his back (fig. 2). The late Dr. Barth
wrote to me, "A person accustomed to such sort of voyage, sits very
comfortably; a stranger holds on to one of the calabashes. There is no
fear of capsizing, as the calabashes go under water, according to the
weight put upon them, from ten to sixteen inches. The yoke is firmly
fastened to the two calabashes, for it is never taken off. I am scarcely
able, at present, to say how it is fastened. As far as I remember, it is
fixed by a very firm lashing, which forms a sort of network over the
calabash, and at the same time serves to strengthen the latter and guard
it against an accident." It is obvious that the gourds might be replaced
by inflated bags or baskets, covered wi