“All the ships and boats we met with on our voyage by sea were built of fir or cedar, both which grow in great plenty in the country. They are of a different structure, according to the purposes and the waters for which they are built. The pleasure-boats, made use of only for going up and down rivers, or to cross small bays, are widely different in their structure, according to the possessor’s fancy. Commonly they are built for rowing. The first and lowermost deck is flat and low; another, more lofty, with open windows, stands upon it, and this may be divided, like their houses, by folding screens, as they please, into several apartments. Several parts are curiously adorned with variety of flags and other ornaments. “The merchant-ships which venture out at sea, though not very far from the coasts, and serve for the transport of men and goods from one island or province to another, deserve a more accurate description. They are commonly eighty-four feet long and twenty-four broad, built for sailing as well as rowing. They run tapering from the middle towards the stern, and both ends of the keel stand out of the water considerably. The body of the ship is not built bulging, as our European ones; but that part which stands below the surface of the water runs almost in a straight line towards the keel. The stern is broad and flat, with a wide opening in the middle for the easier management of the rudder, which reaches down almost to the bottom of the ship, and lays open all the inside to the eye. The deck, somewhat raised towards the stern, consists only of deal boards laid loose, without anything to fasten them together. It rises but little above the surface of the water, when the ship hath its full lading, and is almost covered with a sort of a cabin, full a man’s height, only a small part of it towards the stern being left empty to lay up the anchor and other tackle. This cabin jets beyond the ship about two feet on each side; and there are sliding-windows round it, which may be opened or shut, as occasion requires. In the furthermost parts are the cabins, or rooms for passengers, separate from each other by folding screens and doors, with floors covered with fine neat mats. The furthermost cabin is always reckoned the best and for this reason assigned to the chief passenger. The roof, or upper deck, is flatfish, and made of neat boards curiously joined together. In rainy weather the mast is let down upon the upper deck, and the sail extended over it, affording to the sailors and the people employed in the ship’s service shelter and a place to sleep at night. Sometimes, and the better to defend the upper deck, it is covered with common straw mats, which for this purpose lie there at hand. The ship hath but one sail, made of hemp, and very large. She hath also but one mast, standing up about a fathom beyond her middle towards the stern. This mast, which is of the same length with the ship, is hoisted up by pulleys, and again, when the