Histories

The boats in which they carry cargo are made of the acacia,[*](The “Mimosa Nilotica,” still used for boat-building in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt.) which is most like the lotus of Shahhat [21.866,32.833] (inhabited place), Al Jabal al Akhdar, Libya, AfricaCyrene in form, and its sap is gum. Of this tree they cut logs of four feet long and lay them like courses of bricks,[*](That is, like bricks laid not one directly over another but with the joints alternating.) and build the boat

by fastening these four foot logs to long and close-set stakes; and having done so, they set crossbeams athwart and on the logs. They use no ribs. They caulk the seams within with byblus.

There is one rudder, passing through a hole in the boat's keel. The mast is of acacia-wood and the sails of byblus. These boats cannot move upstream unless a brisk breeze continues; they are towed from the bank; but downstream they are managed thus: