ABSTRACT
The early forms of the craft considered in chapters 2 to 4 enabled man to exploit river, lake and sea for food, and to extend his activities to new continents. Various built-up forms were evolved from these early craft. As we saw in chapter 2, the simple log may be improved by linking several logs together to make a raft, or by increasing its freeboard to produce what may be called a raft-boat. But this form is capable of little further development, although it is thought to have influenced the form and structure of Chinese planked boats (see chapter 14). Similarly the reed bundle became the reed boat which, certainly in Egypt, influenced later plank-built boats. The variety of forms evolved in the skin tradition were described in chapter 4, where we saw how the skin boat became the dominant type in latitudes higher than about 50°, especially in the northern hemisphere where it undoubtedly influenced subsequent planked boats.
