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Article A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION. Page 1 of 5 →
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A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.
A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION .
IN SEVERAL ESSAYS . ESSAY 1 . —Of the Egyptians , Phoenicians , and Assyrian Navigators . IN the early stages of society , the wants of men are few ; content with the produce of their native soil they have little temptation to risk the
dangers of the sea , and it is only when nations nave arrived at a certain degree of civilization and knowledge of the arts , that they are enabled to construct embarkations capable of encountering the storms of the main . Vain must be our pretensions to ascertain in what part of the globe the rich mine of arts was first explored : but as far as we can trace it backthe arts
, have generally travelled from east to west and tor the priority of civilization three potent nations are made each to put in a claim—the Hindoos , the Egyptians , and the Chinese But the Chinese themselves confess , ' that they derive the arts from Hindostan , and Confucius is not ashamed to honour the -Brahmins as his masters in philosophy : and Egypt can by no means contest the of
palm antiquity with Hindostan , a country considered by the oldest nations on the face of the earth , as the most remote origin of sciences and arts . _ But the philosophy and reli gion of that people , both which are intimately connected , must however , have impeded the progress of the arts among themand particularly that of navi Emi
, gation . gration sub jects the man to the loss of his cast , and from this law the Lamans or merchants only are excepted . By means of this priviletlge to a peculiar order of men , the Hindoos carried on an extensive commerce , and sent colonies into very distant recrions .
x ne nrst essays of all nations in the naval arts , we have the most convincing proofs are rude and imperfect ; hollow pieces of timber little better -than a tray or basket , or vessels covered with hides served them at first for the passage of rivers ; what vessels they built when they first ventured on the sea , history no where describes , but many concurring circumstances combine to assure us that they were small , rude , and ill contrived . Of this
we may be assure d by the number of vessels employed by the celebrated Semiramis , in her expedition to India . Diodorus calls them 2000 sail , and tells us they were opposed by the fleet of btaiiiatibates , king of India , consisting of double that number . . 1 he Egyptians like the Hindoos from religious scruples , bore a great aversion to sea , yet the whole nation were not ignorant of the sea affairs , having likewise an order of men among them who followed nothing else ; and the Greeks candidly confess they learned navigation from them .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A View Of The Progress Of Navigation.
A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION .
IN SEVERAL ESSAYS . ESSAY 1 . —Of the Egyptians , Phoenicians , and Assyrian Navigators . IN the early stages of society , the wants of men are few ; content with the produce of their native soil they have little temptation to risk the
dangers of the sea , and it is only when nations nave arrived at a certain degree of civilization and knowledge of the arts , that they are enabled to construct embarkations capable of encountering the storms of the main . Vain must be our pretensions to ascertain in what part of the globe the rich mine of arts was first explored : but as far as we can trace it backthe arts
, have generally travelled from east to west and tor the priority of civilization three potent nations are made each to put in a claim—the Hindoos , the Egyptians , and the Chinese But the Chinese themselves confess , ' that they derive the arts from Hindostan , and Confucius is not ashamed to honour the -Brahmins as his masters in philosophy : and Egypt can by no means contest the of
palm antiquity with Hindostan , a country considered by the oldest nations on the face of the earth , as the most remote origin of sciences and arts . _ But the philosophy and reli gion of that people , both which are intimately connected , must however , have impeded the progress of the arts among themand particularly that of navi Emi
, gation . gration sub jects the man to the loss of his cast , and from this law the Lamans or merchants only are excepted . By means of this priviletlge to a peculiar order of men , the Hindoos carried on an extensive commerce , and sent colonies into very distant recrions .
x ne nrst essays of all nations in the naval arts , we have the most convincing proofs are rude and imperfect ; hollow pieces of timber little better -than a tray or basket , or vessels covered with hides served them at first for the passage of rivers ; what vessels they built when they first ventured on the sea , history no where describes , but many concurring circumstances combine to assure us that they were small , rude , and ill contrived . Of this
we may be assure d by the number of vessels employed by the celebrated Semiramis , in her expedition to India . Diodorus calls them 2000 sail , and tells us they were opposed by the fleet of btaiiiatibates , king of India , consisting of double that number . . 1 he Egyptians like the Hindoos from religious scruples , bore a great aversion to sea , yet the whole nation were not ignorant of the sea affairs , having likewise an order of men among them who followed nothing else ; and the Greeks candidly confess they learned navigation from them .