Note 23 — Chapter XV · Mythical and Legendary Kings

Along the sea-coasts of China the sea-traders exercised their influence, and in time their mode of life was adopted by the conquerors from the inland parts of the growing empire. The types of vessels used by the ancient Egyptians, the Phœnicians, the peoples of the Persian Gulf, the Indians, Burmese, Indonesians, and Polynesians became common on the Chinese coast and rivers. Maritime enterprise was stimulated, as we have seen, by the Far Eastern Columbuses who searched for the elixir of life and the fabled “Islands of the Blest”. “The Chinese,” writes Mr. Kebel Chatterton, “in their own independent way went on developing from the early Egyptian models (of ships), and have been not inaptly called the Dutchmen of the east in their nautical tendencies.”23 It is believed that they were the inventors of the rudder, which took the place of the ancient steering-oar.