Tonchi |
09-04-2006 03:16 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pangloss62
Balsa-log rafts have so many advantages over boats, not capable of sinking being the most important. :neutral:
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A little bit of Spanish trivia for you: the word BALSA has gone into the language in this hemisphere to mean RAFT. (Even if it is an Army surplus rubber dingey, they call it a balsa.) Because this tree only grows in tropical South America north to parts of Mexico, it would have been the logical choice for the PreColombian civilizations to use if they had really been inclined to ocean voyages. It was perfectly possible for one of their craft to have been blown across the Pacific to Polynesia or even farther. A boat with 3 Mexican fishermen who were given up as lost at sea has showed up in the Marianas, near Australia, after floating for 9 months.
Not just any reed will make a seaworthy raft, as Heyerdahl discovered. His first effort sank after becoming waterlogged to the point that it was unsailable. I have seen documentaries on Univision which show where the "Inca" reeds used for boats come from; the entire villages are floating on mats of reeds in fact. To make his Ra craft with the same materials, Heyerdahl must have stripped that entire swamp of vegitation.
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