"WITH THE SPEED OF STEAM."—IN A "BEETLE" BOAT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue II, 12 November 1889, Page 4

"WITH THE SPEED OF STEAM."— IN A "BEETLE" BOAT.

A New York man has been over to the French Exposition «md hns taken back with him ihe latest French device for navigating rivers. It bears thh peculiar name of podoseaph. and is a sort of fny ; The men who navigates it must have t^p knack, cf balancing himpelf ■ highly developed. 'It coiisists of tn-6 tiny skiffs or caroes made of paper and too l'ght and small to safely contain even a boy, bnt by befn • made into a sort of catnmaran, byi fasten'np; one broad lipht paper board between the t\ro,it will carry a full sized man with a certain amount of safety, and, under certain circumstances, ■with considerable speed. It is Very light and carried undei one arm about ns easily as a pasteboard box, and is drier than most raf»s, being elevated several inches above tho water by th c ,s!; iffs. v .l h eve are t n-.« • ways of sailing the podoscaph. The first is by rowing it with a pair of spoon paddles ; the second is by sailing it, which is done by mean's of the ordinary umb ella, and this is t efa ou'ite Fretich m'etliod. 'the owre's of the podos* ph in «hh* country sai ling 4t i witfrthei>'rmbf dW placidly up, and v. fawn ... t 1 c Seinwi h almost the *peed of s earn f r these li tie things have no weight and are so bouyant that the s'igM impetus siven them by an nmbrel'fl held in the hands of the navigntrr makes them fly ny r the wat°r. Put the American fashioft. would ireve*'' have been d earned of; Ky a French man. The m.-m who" took it over is spending his yacat o;i> ,6h«-the banks of a small? qntet river, anil starting out the other day for a tour upon his podoscaph he pu^hasedk of ■ a neighbouring fann.er. .a .flock of twelve ducks, which he h^vnessrd down the streamy- -H-e-wafl g^ne si«: dtiys, aud when,' he ' returijied jhe wn ni'nns the' d'ickpTtwd'or which he dccl red he had eaten every ugh* for di'iner, a«>d thnt they had Hintenall^.n-ided hrn in"; h-is: voyage;' The urw "Dbat~liaß "vhliie eh^ueh iv> itself 'o be- ome popular, and vt% no d"ii' t, be added in the course of t J me to the-other frapilft 'ittle craft which spin abont f^ naerr^^ater. beetles in th lowprba-y,-; • -'■". •-'!,,■.