Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/565

 etc., named in the inventory. Nor is the matter mended if we suppose the palm to have been nine inches; for then the mast would be nine feet in circumference, or equal to that of a first-class modern line-of-battle ship.

However imperfect the drawings which have been preserved, the reader will by these form a more accurate idea of what the vessels were than can be obtained from the few records we have of their dimensions. If, therefore, the following representations, given by M. Jal, from the MS. Virgil in the Riccardi library are examined, and an allowance made for imperfection of the drawings, we may form a tolerable idea of the ships of that period.