In the fifth century B.C.E., the Greek historian Herodotus, in the course of researching his great history of the wars' between Greece and Persia, visited Egypt, then a province of the Persian Empire. Herodotus was fascinated with all aspects of Egyptian history and with the ways of life of the people of Egypt, and many of his descriptions of things he saw are among the most valuable source's for the history of Egypt. In one fascinating passage, Herodotus describes the construction of a; particular kind of Egyptian freight boat, called a "baris."

The boats with which they carry cargo are made of acacia. Cutting two-cubit (approximately three feet) planks-from this acacia, they build the hull like a brick-layer in the following way: they pound the two-cubit-long planks onto closely-spaced, large tenons (that is, flat...