284 BULLETTN 127, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. 



seas or to sail close to the wind. The leeboards are used one in the 

 center and the other two on the lee side, being simply inserted be- 

 tween the bamboo and drawn up when no longer required. A cata- 

 maran is also supplied with a screen of mat or rattan to protect 

 the crew from the wind or sea ; this is fastened in an upright posi- 

 tion on the weather side aft. AVlien not required for this purpose 

 it is laid flat on the forward part of the raft, and thus serves as a 

 sort of platform upon which are laid articles that require to be kept 

 dry. "\'\^ien a catamaran is used to transport passengers a large 

 tub is securely lashed near the stern and the passengers sit in this. 

 But the tub is dispensed with when the boat is employed solely 

 ior fishing, and its place is taken by baskets in which the fish are put. 



Three men constitute a crew. "Wlien rowing each man faces for- 

 ward and uses two oars, which are pushed from the body instead 

 of being pulled toward it as in the ordinarj^ method of rowing. 

 When the raft is sailing one man steers with an oar which is passed 

 through a rattan becket, of which there are two at the stern of each 

 catamaran. The steering oar is always placed in the lee becket. 



Catamarans rarely upset in deep water, however heavy the sea 

 may be. Wlien they do capsize it usually occurs in crossing the bar 

 inwards, as follows: Two or three high following seas strike the 

 after part of the raft and lift it so high that the bow strikes the 

 bottom, and then, before the catamaran can rise or recover itself, a 

 heavy sea (or a succession of big waves) follows, forcing the bow 

 of the craft still farther into the bottom, fairly turning it over, 

 somewhat obliquely. 



In deep water an anchor is used, but in shallow water a pole is 

 usually thrust into the mud and the raft is made fast to it. 



Cat. No. 160,146 U.S.N.M. 



African dugout canoe. 



This is a type of canoe used on the west coast of Africa, where 

 the natives exhibit much skill in the management of their canoes. 

 It is an open, sharp-ended, round bottom, keelless dugout canoe ; the 

 ends curve up from below and terminate in small pointed projections ; 

 canoe very thin and light. 



Dimensions of canoe. — Length, 14 feet 6 inches; beam, 15 inches; 

 depth, 12 inches. 

 Gift of Capt. Alfred Moloney, Surrey, Eng. 



Cat. No. 160,338 U.S.N.M. 



Model of grass boat of Senegambia. 



This is a type of balsa used for crossing small rivers on the lower 

 coast of Senegambia. The body ite made of two cigar-shaped bundles 

 of rushes firmly bound together with two-stranded rope and strongly 



