274 BULLETIN 127, UXITED STATES XATIOXAL MUSEUM. 



carving at bow and stern, as well as the outside of gunwales, is 

 richly gilded ; bottom of boat is black : inside, red. In the center of 

 the boat is a gorgeously decorated and gilded pagoda in which the 

 King sat ; there are 32 thwarts for paddles. 



Dimensions of boat. — Length over all, 65 feet; beam, 4 feet 6 

 inches; depth, 15 inches. Scale of model, 1 inch equals 1 foot. 



A procession of these boats is described by eyewitnesses as a 

 gorgeous pageant, and one that may well attract attention. 



Gift of Siamese Centennial Commission. 



Cat. No. 160,278 U.S.N.M. 



Model of Japanese fishing boat. 



A style of flat-bottomed boat, locally known by the typical name 

 of " kawasaki," extensively, practically universally, employed in the 

 trawl-line codfishery from the Island of Yesso or Hokkaido, in 

 northern Japan. In the region where the fisheries are prosecuted 

 most largely there are no harbors, and hence these boats have to put 

 off from open shores, and often are compelled to land through a 

 high-breaking surf. 



This model represents a wooden, fiat-bottom, keelless boat, with 

 long, sharp bow; moderately flaring side; a stern with projecting 

 sides, inside of which the rudder is hung; a long, narrow-bladed 

 rudder projecting below the bottom; medium sheer; open; beams 

 projecting from each side of boat, on the ends of which are 

 tholes for the oars or sculls to work on ; has one mast, which is ad- 

 justable, stepped some distance abaft the center of the boat — on this 

 is set a large rectangular lugsail; the oars are peculiar, and are made 

 of two pieces lashed together. 



Dimensions of boat. — Length over all, 41 feet 10| inches; beam, 

 10 feet; depth, 3 feet 6^ inches; mast, above gunwale, 25 feet; length 

 of yard, 19 feet 1 inch ; sail, 20 feet 10 inches high by 17 feet 1 inch 

 wide ; oars, 15 feet 10 inches long ; blade of rudder, 5 feet 7^ inches 

 long. Scale of model li inches equal 1 foot. 



It is said that the Japanese fishermen prefer flat bottom boats of 

 this type for surf work. In beaching they run their boats on shore 

 stern first, as the English cable is landed. They must often land 

 on rocky shores, where the boats thump heavily in the surf. For 

 this reason, the bottom of the "kawasaki" is very heavy, so that 

 it may endure the wear and strain of successive poundings. The 

 bottom is made by joining longitudinally two strips hewn from 

 heavy planks of "katsura," a tree peculiar to Japan. The four 

 pairs of ribs, cutwater, gunwale, ribband, and " kurokoberi," are 

 made of oak; the planking is pine. Where cross grains are exposed 

 to the weather, as on ends of timbers, they are either covered with 



