The Whole
History Of Commerce Was Made Manifest In That Scow Turned Bottom
Upward On The Shore.
Thus did men begin to go down upon the sea
in ships; _quaeque diu steterant in montibus altis, Fluctibus
ignotis insultavere carinae;_ "and keels which had long stood on
high mountains careered insultingly (_insultavere_) over unknown
waves." (Ovid, Met.
I. 133.) We thought that it would be well
for the traveller to build his boat on the bank of a stream,
instead of finding a ferry or a bridge. In the Adventures of
Henry the fur-trader, it is pleasant to read that when with his
Indians he reached the shore of Ontario, they consumed two days
in making two canoes of the bark of the elm-tree, in which to
transport themselves to Fort Niagara. It is a worthy incident in
a journey, a delay as good as much rapid travelling. A good
share of our interest in Xenophon's story of his retreat is in
the manoeuvres to get the army safely over the rivers, whether on
rafts of logs or fagots, or sheep-skins blown up. And where
could they better afford to tarry meanwhile than on the banks of
a river?
As we glided past at a distance, these out-door workmen appeared
to have added some dignity to their labor by its very publicness.
It was a part of the industry of nature, like the work of hornets
and mud-wasps.
The waves slowly beat,
Just to keep the noon sweet,
And no sound is floated o'er,
Save the mallet on shore,
Which echoing on high
Seems a-calking the sky.
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