ng paddle, are of Phoenician ancestry, and that the curious signs,
which many of them have painted on the cross board over the cabin, are
of Semitic origin though now undecipherable.

Coming to the northern waters, as with men, so with boats, we meet with
a totally different type. Instead of the smooth exterior of the
carvel-build, we have the more rugged form of clinker-built craft with
great beam, and raking sterns and stems, and a wide flare forward. In
the most northern waters the strakes of the sea-going boats are wide and
of considerable thickness, of oak or fir, often compacted with wooden
trenails, strong and fit to do battle with the rough seas and rough
usage which they have to endure.

In most of these the origin of form and character is to be sought for in
the old Viking vessels or long _keeles_ of the 5th century A.D., with
curved and elevated stem and stern posts, and without decks or, at the
most, half decked.

In the Baltic and the North Sea most of the fishing boats follow this
type, with, however, considerable variety in details. It is noticeable
that here also, as in other parts of the world, and at other times, the
pressing demand for speed and carrying power has increased the size in
almost all classes of boats till they pass into the category of ships.
At the same time the carvel-build is becoming more common, while, in the
struggle for life, steam and motor power are threatening to obliterate
the old types of rowing and sailing boats altogether.

Next to the Norse skiff and its descendants, perhaps the oldest type of
boat in northern waters is to be found in Holland, where the conditions
of navigation have hardly altered for centuries. It is to the Dutch that
we chiefly owe the original of our pleasure craft, but, though we have
developed these enormously, the Dutch boats have remained pretty much
the same. The clinker-build and the wide rounded bow are now very much
of the same character as they are represented in the old pictures of the
17th and 18th centuries.

The development of boat-building in the British Isles during the 19th
century has been unceasing and would need a treatise to itself to do it
justice. The expansion of the fishing industry and the pressure of
competition have stimulated constant improvement in the craft engaged,
and here also are observable the same tendencies to substitute carvel,
though it is more expensive, for clinker build, and to increase the
length and size o