248 BULLETIX 127, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



ference being that they are flat on their bottoms instead of being 

 round — a feature which makes them better adapted to landing on 

 shallow shores. 



This model consists of two long, narrow, round-sided, flat-bot- 

 tomed, open dugout canoes, with strongly raking overhanging ends, 

 placed equidistant from each other, and covered with a platform for 

 more than half their length in mid section, leaving the open ends of 

 dugouts projecting some distance beyond the platform. 



Dimensions of hoat. — Length of canoes, 28 feet; greatest width, 

 inside, 14 inches; projecting bej'ond platform, 7 feet at one end and 

 5 feet 8 inches at the other; length of platform 15 feet 4 inches, 

 width 8 feet 5 inches. Scale of model, 2 inches equal 1 foot. 

 Collected by Dr. G. Brown Goode. Cat. No. 76,307 U.S.N.M. 



Model of Singhalese catamaran. 



Catamarans are used in Ceylon for various purposes, but especially 

 for boarding ships in open roadsteads, where the surf is too heavy 

 for ordinary boats to affect a landing. These catamarans are 

 usualh' 20 to 30 feet long, but those of mvich smaller size are used 

 for fishing, and some are very diminutive. 



The model represents a vessel made of five hewn logs of ma- 

 hogany, securely fastened together by strong lashings at each end, 

 and so disposed that the side logs are canted to raise their upper 

 edges considerably above the others and thus forming a sort of 

 hollow longitudinally through the center. The three central logs 

 project at the stern some distance abaft those on the sides, and afford 

 a position, on their lee side, for the steering oar. The bow is formed 

 by three short hewn pieces of timber, rounded at the outer ends, 

 firmh' joined together, and so secured to the forward end of the 

 raft that they project upward at a considerable angle. A single 

 triangular sail, dyed red (probably with gab), and with a yard on 

 its foot is set on a mast stepped amidships; poles and oars are also 

 used. 



Dimensions of catamaran. — Length. 25 feet 5 inches; width, 3 

 feet 7 inches; mast, above step, 13 feet; yard, 14 feet 5 inches; pole, 

 17 feet 3 inches. Scale of model, 2J inches equal 1 foot. 



A catamaran — spelled katamaran or kattumaran in Ceylon — was 

 exhibited at the Columbian World's Fair, which had been used for 

 years to carry the Ceylon and Indian mails between the shore and 

 streams lying off the open roadsteads. The mails, incased in water- 

 proof coverings, are thus safely carried, while passengers often find 

 it necessary to make a trip on one of these rude boats. 

 Collected by Dr. G. Brown Goode. Cat. No. 76,304 U.S.N.M. 



