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The Manner of Making Their Boats

The manner of making their boats in Virginia is very wonderful. For whereas they want instruments of iron, or others like unto ours, yet they know how to make them as handsomely, to sail with where they list in their rivers, and to fish withall, as ours. First they choose some long and thick tree, according to the bigness of the boat which they would frame. Then they make a fire on the ground about the root thereof, kindling the same by little and little with dry moss of trees and chips of wood, that the flame should not mount up too high and burn too much of the length of the tree. When it is almost burnt through and ready to fall they make a new fire, which they suffer to burn until the tree fall of its own accord. Then burning off the top and boughs of the tree, in suchwise that the body of the same may retain his just length, they raise it upon posts laid over crosswise upon forked posts, at such a reasonable height as they may handsomely work upon it. Then they take off the bark with certain shells, reserving the innermost part of the trunk for the nethermost part of the boat. On the other side they make a fire according to the length of the body of the tree, saving at both ends. That which they think is sufficiently burned they quench and scrape away with shells, and making a new fire they burn it again, and so they continue, sometimes burning and sometimes scraping, until the boat have sufficient bottom. Thus god induceth these savage people with sufficient reason to make things necessary to serve their turns.

Monday, 15-May-95 14:17:42 PDT