_Curach._--There is yet another kind of boat, the curach, that must have been employed by these lake dwellers; of it, however, on account of the perishable materials of which it was composed, no remains have as yet been exhumed. We may all recollect, when reading English history in our childhood, the description given of the primitive Celtic boat, constructed of basket-work and covered with skins, in which the Picts and Scots are said to have invaded Britain in crowds, and of which the Britons themselves made use: this is frequently referred to by old classical writers. Herodotus mentions boats of this kind as existent in his time on the Tigris and Euphrates; similar skiffs are used on those rivers at the present day; boats of analogous construction are employed in some parts of India; they are propelled by paddles where the water is deep, and poled over the shallows. Nothing can be more simple than the construction of these skiffs; only two materials are requisite, and they the most accessible in the country, _i.e._ bamboo and hides. When Cæsar had constructed boats in Spain, after the manner learnt by him in Britain, it is said that “the keels and ribs were made of light timber, the rest of the hull being woven together with basket-work, and covered with hides.”[76] “The bending willow into barks they twine, Then line the work with spoils of slaughtered kine. … On such to neighbouring Gaul, allured by gain, The bolder Britons cross the swelling main.” Pliny says:--“Even now, in the British channel, they (the boats) are made of osiers, covered with hides sewn together.” Solinus, describing the rough sea between Britain and Ireland, says that the natives “sail in ships made of osiers, which they surround with a covering of hides.” Adamnan, in his life of St. Columba, refers to a voyage made in a curach by St. Cormac. The curach is said to be still in use on the Severn,[77] and on some parts of the coast of Ireland, in shape and build similar to those of thousands of years ago; at the same time it may be affirmed that few persons of the present generation could declare they have seen the _true_ curach, that term having been now transferred to boats covered with coarse tarred canvas, and which differ widely both in form and method of construction from their ancient prototype. The curach seen by W. F. Wakeman in use on the river Boyne so late as the year 1848 is thus described by him:--A regular frame of willow ribs, generally laid in pairs, and extending along the sides and floor, formed the skeleton of the future boat, which was in the form of the bowl of a spoon, a little broader towards one end than the other; about eight feet in length, but very nearly circular. The extremities of the ribs for a depth of about eighteen inches from what would now be called the gunwale, were set in a very thick, strong, and closely-woven band of wicker-work, above which the ends of the rods slightly projected.