The balsa generally carries only one large sail, which is hoisted to what we call a pair of shears, formed by two poles crossing at the top, where they are lashed together.
An immense balsawas dashing out before the land-wind, and sending a snowy wreath of foam before her like that which curls up before the bow of a frigate in chase.
The balsa of the Leccos is a raft made of the light, corky wood from which it takes its name.
This day I took a balsa across the river to try for pig or parrot or turkey, or monkey if we were lucky, or something anyway, for the Caimalebra place was vacant of platano or food except for the small family there.
It is not safe for more than one passenger to each balsa for the narrow raft of a wood almost as light as cork is lightly balanced as a canoe.
Other rivers have the balsaand the callapo too, and the long rapids through narrow gorges, but the Indians of those rivers lie down and clutch for safety when they go through them.
Then across the river appeared a stretch of narrow beach and the poles were dropped and the balsa swung out across the current to the other side.
One rock that jutted from the shore took my balsa an hour and a half to pass.
Three times this swept my balsa half a mile below--only one balsa made the crossing at the first try--and it looked more than once as though we would be upset for an uncertain swim.
Once--and no one would suspect a clumsy looking balsa of tippiness--an extra heavy boil of water burst under the balsa ahead and shot Agamemnon and the Leccos into the water.
The crew of a balsa is two men, one fore and one aft of the platform with poles or a jungle vine for a drag rope.
There was the time when a balsa upset in a boiling eddy and Agamemnon jumped in as a faithful rescuer only to still further complicate matters; also when--but it is useless, Agamemnon is a story in himself.
Eight-inch logs of this balsa wood are pinned together with palm spikes from the hard, black palm that is also used as arrow-points and for bows.
I believe that path back of the hut will take us to a creek which flows into the Estero Balsaand which the officers plotted in on the chart last week when I was with them.
The thickest log of the balsa is put so as to project beyond the others in the centre, and the others being lashed in equal number on each side to this, the number of logs is always uneven.
A large balsa will carry twenty-five tons, and that as free from wet as possible, for the sea never breaks over them, nor does the water rise between the logs, as the whole machine adapts itself to the motion of the waves.
These are rafts made of light balsa wood, so buoyant as to be used in coasting voyages.
Briefly, the Seri balsa is remarkable for perfect adaptation to those needs of its makers shaped by their distinctive environment.
Almost equally striking features of the balsa are its efficiency and safety under the severe local conditions.
The most objectionable feature of thebalsa lies in the fact that it affords little protection from the wet.
The manufacture of the balsa has never been seen by Caucasian eyes, but the processes are safely inferred from the structure, whose testimony is corroborated in part by Mashém’s imperfect descriptions.
Although measurably similar to Central American and South American types of water-craft, the Seri balsa is a notably distinct type for its region.
The gracefulness and efficiency of the balsa itself stand in strong contrast with the crude methods of propulsion.
Balsa Boats There is considerable skill exercised in the making of the balsa, as these reed-boats are called.
The largest balsa that Harry had ever seen upon the lake was not nearly big enough for the purpose; a hooked plesiosaurus would drag it under water without an effort, and then what would become of its occupants?
Besides, a balsa was not at all the kind of craft on which to engage in so dangerous a form of sport, even though it were possible to build one big enough; what was needed was a good stanch sturdy boat of, say, twenty tons or so.
Ere the balsa could be stopped and paddled back to where the man was struggling, two of the monsters appeared and tore him limb from limb.
What hope for his life would a man have if he chanced to fall off his balsa at a moment when one of those monsters happened to be close at hand?
But no; there was no sign of his young master in that direction; moreover, the balsa was lying moored in its proper place; also the cutter was at her usual moorings.
He pasted a small strip of inch-thick Balsa wood beneath the wipers on the window, lighted two candles and stuck them on the Balsa shelf thus made.
We only ran in a clear course for ten minutes all told, and spent eight hours in portaging the loads past rapids down which the canoes were run; the balsa was almost swamped.
In the balsa only two were left fit to do anything, and Kermit plied a paddle all day long.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "balsa" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word. Other words: boom; buoy; cork; ebony; float; oak; raft; tree; wood
