DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0317
230
0. Bates
The use of these floor boards at once suggests the planks which Strabo mentions in con-
nection with the pacton which ferried him over to Philae.
The example of the balsa fitted with a floor plank given in fig. 35 is from a Middle
Kingdom original, and shows the heights to which the building of reed canoes attained in
Egypt. The grace of the curves, which was fully appreciated by the artist of the Old
Kingdom,117 is here very marked: one has a feeling of perfect balance, and sees how the
comparatively short length of the underwater body, and the long overhang aft, against
which the stern man could lever his punting pole or his paddle, contributed to make the
craft quick to turn and easy to manage. In this finished type, also, one sees the model to
which so many wooden boats approached in design — approached, indeed, so closely,
that one is often in some doubt as to whether a given representation depicts a wooden or a
papyrus original. The divine wd^-t eye, seen on the bow of this example, as in so many
others, was, as has been intimated, probably painted on a strip of canvas or leather. Its
purpose was of course a magical one, as in the case of those painted on ancient and modern
Mediterranean ships, and on Chinese sampans. The appropriateness of the position of
this decoration is emphasized by a Chinaman’s explanation, thus delivered in Pidgin
English: “Him no got eye, no can see; no can see, no can savvy; no can savvy, no can
do!”
In the manipulation of the papyrus canoes, as in that of the rafts, both paddles and
punting poles were employed, the latter being in far greater favor than the former. The
poles were apparently 3 or 4 meters long, and were forked at the bottom (fig. 23, 33, 34).
The crotch was useful both in fending off, and in poling over soft bottom: it is therefore
not surprising to find that its employment was general among the boatmen. That seats
are sometimes seen on. the canoes I have already remarked (figs. 23, 25).
The building of canoes was a stock theme of the Egyptian artist: one sees the papyrus
being gathered in the swamps and carried away in bundles (fig. 37);118 the twisting of the
cords (fig. 37 — youth seated under stern?, 39, 227);119 the binding of the canoes (fig. 37,
38, 40, 44); and the final process, when, as in the manufacture of the modern Seri balsas,
the builders, by the aid of a chisel-shaped tool and a stone for pounding, drove in the
ends of the papyrus stalks wherever they stuck out, so giving the craft a neat finish, which
117 The beauty of the papyrus boats was thoroughly appreciated in the Old Kingdom, when wicker trays in the
shapes of balsas appear — appropriately laden, in most cases, with marsh products — in the offering scenes; e. g.
Steindorff, op. cit., pl. 62; 64. Other types of boats were similarly copied; cf. Ibid., pl. 54, bottom.
118 Cf. Blackman, Meir, pt. 2, pl. 3; Paget and Pirie, Ptah-hetep, pl. 33.
119 The process of twisting papyrus in fig. 39 is essentially like that used for leather ropes; cf. P. E. Newberry,
The life of Rekhmara, etc., Westminster, 1900, pl. 18 top, left; Champollion, Monuments, vol. 2, pl. 164, fig. 4
('= Rosellini, Monum. civ., vol. 2, pl. 45, fig. 11, where the same scene is differently colored); E. Mackay, ‘Note on
a new tomb (No. 260) at Drah Abu '1 Naga, Thebes’ (Journ. Egypt. Arch., vol. 3, pt. 2, Apr., 1916, p. 125 sq. and pl.
15). In figs. 37-39 note the coils of rope ready for use.
0. Bates
The use of these floor boards at once suggests the planks which Strabo mentions in con-
nection with the pacton which ferried him over to Philae.
The example of the balsa fitted with a floor plank given in fig. 35 is from a Middle
Kingdom original, and shows the heights to which the building of reed canoes attained in
Egypt. The grace of the curves, which was fully appreciated by the artist of the Old
Kingdom,117 is here very marked: one has a feeling of perfect balance, and sees how the
comparatively short length of the underwater body, and the long overhang aft, against
which the stern man could lever his punting pole or his paddle, contributed to make the
craft quick to turn and easy to manage. In this finished type, also, one sees the model to
which so many wooden boats approached in design — approached, indeed, so closely,
that one is often in some doubt as to whether a given representation depicts a wooden or a
papyrus original. The divine wd^-t eye, seen on the bow of this example, as in so many
others, was, as has been intimated, probably painted on a strip of canvas or leather. Its
purpose was of course a magical one, as in the case of those painted on ancient and modern
Mediterranean ships, and on Chinese sampans. The appropriateness of the position of
this decoration is emphasized by a Chinaman’s explanation, thus delivered in Pidgin
English: “Him no got eye, no can see; no can see, no can savvy; no can savvy, no can
do!”
In the manipulation of the papyrus canoes, as in that of the rafts, both paddles and
punting poles were employed, the latter being in far greater favor than the former. The
poles were apparently 3 or 4 meters long, and were forked at the bottom (fig. 23, 33, 34).
The crotch was useful both in fending off, and in poling over soft bottom: it is therefore
not surprising to find that its employment was general among the boatmen. That seats
are sometimes seen on. the canoes I have already remarked (figs. 23, 25).
The building of canoes was a stock theme of the Egyptian artist: one sees the papyrus
being gathered in the swamps and carried away in bundles (fig. 37);118 the twisting of the
cords (fig. 37 — youth seated under stern?, 39, 227);119 the binding of the canoes (fig. 37,
38, 40, 44); and the final process, when, as in the manufacture of the modern Seri balsas,
the builders, by the aid of a chisel-shaped tool and a stone for pounding, drove in the
ends of the papyrus stalks wherever they stuck out, so giving the craft a neat finish, which
117 The beauty of the papyrus boats was thoroughly appreciated in the Old Kingdom, when wicker trays in the
shapes of balsas appear — appropriately laden, in most cases, with marsh products — in the offering scenes; e. g.
Steindorff, op. cit., pl. 62; 64. Other types of boats were similarly copied; cf. Ibid., pl. 54, bottom.
118 Cf. Blackman, Meir, pt. 2, pl. 3; Paget and Pirie, Ptah-hetep, pl. 33.
119 The process of twisting papyrus in fig. 39 is essentially like that used for leather ropes; cf. P. E. Newberry,
The life of Rekhmara, etc., Westminster, 1900, pl. 18 top, left; Champollion, Monuments, vol. 2, pl. 164, fig. 4
('= Rosellini, Monum. civ., vol. 2, pl. 45, fig. 11, where the same scene is differently colored); E. Mackay, ‘Note on
a new tomb (No. 260) at Drah Abu '1 Naga, Thebes’ (Journ. Egypt. Arch., vol. 3, pt. 2, Apr., 1916, p. 125 sq. and pl.
15). In figs. 37-39 note the coils of rope ready for use.