THE FIRST VOYAGE
The two boys sprang upon the log which floated slowly out into the stream.
A DUG-OUT CANOE OF EARLY MAN
Made by hollowing out the trunk of an oak tree.
Ni-Va, the swimmer, wanted to swim across the river and see what the country was like on the other side, but Tul could not swim, and when they saw the dark backs of some great reptiles, like crocodiles, cutting the surface of the water, they soon gave up the idea.
They were sitting on the bank, wondering whether they had not better go back, when Tul saw a log, the broken trunk of a tree, floating slowly down the stream, close to the shore. Climbing out on a low limb which hung over the water, he hooked the point of his spear into a broken branch on the log, and gently towed it up to the bank.