270 BUIXETIN 127, UNITED STATES XATIOXAL MUSEUM. 



crew be treated civilly * * *. These boats are rowed by twelve 

 men, in double banks, with bamboo paddles (a board about ten inches 

 broad and fourteen inches long fixed to the end of a piece of bamboo) . 

 They are steered by two 'tindals' (coxswains), and two men are 

 constantly kept to bail out the water, from which employment the}' 

 are promoted to the paddle or bow oar, after which they fall aft 

 in rotation, to be a ' tindal ' or steersman. The steersman gives time 

 by a song, which is sung by all the boatmen, and according as its 

 modulations are slow or quick the oars are plied. * * * 



" The masula boats are from thirty to thirty-five feet in length, 

 ten to eleven feet in breadth, and seven to eight feet in depth." ^^ 

 Gift of Surg. Gen. Francis Day. Cat. No. 160,155 U.S.N.M. 



Jessor boat. 



Double-ended boats of this peculiar form are used for fishing and 

 for other purposes at Jessor, Bengal Presidency, India. They are 

 built of teak and painted with gab. The oars are made in the usual 

 East Indian manner by lashing the blades, which are flat on one 

 side and convex on the other, to bamboo handles; the blades of the 

 oars are made of sal wood {shorea rohusta). 



This is an open, carvel-built, keelless boat, with long pointed over- 

 hanging ends; round bilge; midship section being almost as round 

 as the half of a cask; short and narrow flat mid section on bottom. 

 The construction is peculiar. The planks, which are thick in com- 

 parison to the boat's size, are fastened together by clamps or iron 

 staples clenched and countersunk on the opposite side from which 

 they are driven. There are nine clamps to the foot. There are nine 

 ribs or half frames on each side reaching nearly down to the bottom, 

 and fastened to their upper ends is a strip of wood that runs around 

 the boat inside of her gunwale and upon which rests the temporary 

 bamboo deck. Crossing the bottom are nine battens which alternate 

 with the ribs on the sides. Thirteen narrow crosspieces, like the 

 thwarts of a boat, support and hold the sides together. Each end 

 is covered or decked for a length of 3 feet, but the boat is otherwise 

 open. When fishing it is decked with split bamboos, netted to- 

 gether, which are spread out as occasion requires. 



Dimemsions of hoat. — Length over all, 35 feet 6 inches; beam, 

 5 feet 1 inch; depth amidships, 2 feet; height of ends, 3 feet 4 

 inches ; oars, 7 feet long. 



The shape of this boat suggests the vessels used by the ancient 

 Egyptians. It has a close affinity in form to the modern fin-keeled 

 racing yachts, and no doubt would sail very swiftly if its bottom 

 was smooth and it was properly ballasted. It tapers from the mid- 



" Cyclopedia of India. Vol. 1, p. 558. 



