The story of the ferry is, at the outset, the story of the boat. It begins with prehistoric man noticing that wood will float and possibly, from the riding of birds and small animals, that it will carry a burden according to its size and character. Observant and imitative, the human animal, in the childhood of the world, proceeds to experiment gingerly and doubtfully at first, boldly and confidently—perhaps in some cases too boldly and confidently, later. He mounts himself astride a log and propels it, probably at first with his legs, towards the opposite bank of the river near which he lives. On the other side lies a new world, with resources untapped, especially in the matter of food, which he is anxious to reach. Even in the middle of the 19th century Pickering (Races of Man) speaks of men in the tide waters of the Sacramento river crossing, standing on split logs.
DASH J. Michael, The Other America, Caribbean literature in a New World Context, Charlottesville and London, Universiy Press of Virginia, 1998, 200 p.