e mother country--Arvad, Byblos, Berytus, Tyre, and
Sidon--possessed vessels engaged in cruising long before the Egyptian
conquest of Syria. We have no direct information from any existing
monument to show us what these vessels were like, but we are familiar
with the construction of the galleys which formed the fleets of the
Pharaohs of the XVIIIth dynasty. The art of shipbuilding had made
considerable progress since the times of the Memphite kings. Prom the
period when Egypt aspired to become one of the great powers of the
world, she doubtless endeavoured to bring her naval force to the same
pitch of perfection as her land forces could boast of, and her fleets
probably consisted of the best vessels which the dockyards of that
day could turn out. Phoenician vessels of this period may therefore be
regarded with reason as constructed on lines similar to those of the
Egyptian ships, differing from them merely in the minor details of the
shape of the hull and manner of rigging. The hull continued to be built
long and narrow, rising at the stem and stern. The bow was terminated
by a sort of hook, to which, in time of peace, a bronze ornament was
attached, fashioned to represent the head of a divinity, gazelle, or
bull, while in time of war this was superseded by a metal cut-water made
fast to the hull by several turns of stout rope, the blade rising some
couple of yards above the level of the deck.* The poop was ornamented
with a projection firmly attached to the body of the vessel, but
curved inwards and terminated by an open lotus-flower. An upper deck,
surrounded by a wooden rail, was placed at the bow and stern to serve
as forecastle and quarterdecks respectively, and in order to protect
the vessel from the danger of heavy seas the ship was strengthened by
a structure to which we find nothing analogous in the shipbuilding of
classical times: an enormous cable attached to the gammonings of the
bow rose obliquely to a height of about a couple of yards above the
deck, and, passing over four small crutched masts, was made fast again
to the gammonings of the stern. The hull measured from the blade of the
cut-water to the stern-post some twenty to five and twenty yards, but
the lowest part of the hold did not exceed five feet in depth. There was
no cabin, and the ballast, arms, provisions, and spare-rigging occupied
the open hold.**

* To get a clear idea of the details of this structure, we
have only to compare the