Sources: C. W. Bishop, C. G. Abbot and A. Hrdlicka, Man from the farthest past. 1930.
Publisher: Smithsonian Scientific Series
Caption of the photo: Primitive canoes of the Australian aborigines. Bark canoes of various types are found in several widely separated regions.
The following paragraph is cited from the above source: The canoe proper, made by hollowing out a log, largely with the aid of fire, developed early, perhaps suggested by the accidental use of a hollow tree trunk. Such a discovery might conceivably be made more than once, wherever trees grew near water; at least the well-nigh world-wide distribution of the dugout canoe suggests this. From this improvement we can trace, step by step, the evolution of larger and larger craft, until we reach such triumphs of the shipbuilder’s art as the ocean steamer and the battleship of the present day.
