According to Randall Spackman, the Jaredite watercraft are described in the book of Ether as "barges" (Ether 2:16). Barges are normally defined as flat-bottomed cargo vessels used chiefly for canal and river navigation. In addition, the Jaredite record implies a box-like form by its references to the top, bottom, sides, and ends of the barge (Ether 2:17). Both the definition of "barges" and the implied box-like form are in harmony with the eminent nautical scholar Casson's representation of the earliest Egyptian and Mesopotamian planked boats as square-ended and flat-bottomed, "more barge than boat, a form that might have been chosen because it involved simpler carpentry." These vessels were common on the rivers and canals of lower Mesopotamia and would have been familiar to the Jaredites. [Randall P. Spackman, The Jaredite Journey to America, p. 64, unpublished]