Minecraft wiki entry for Creating_a_village, associated text: An easy way to obtain villagers involves using a boat to move villagers from the nearest village to a more convenient place. Boats can be moved on level ground (without water). A villager can be made to enter the boat by pushing the villager into the conveyance (or driving it into the villager), and the villager does not leave until the boat is broken. However, boats can move only downward but not upward. You can, however, push a boat upward using a piston and a redstone torch.