THEIR CONSTRUCTION. 101 



oblong, alwaj^s placed behind tlie mast and 

 stretched between two thm poles ; it can only 

 be used with the wind nearly aft and light, for 

 a stiff breeze would destroy the whole tackle. 

 The size of these boats varies from ten to one 

 hundred tons : the ropes are of the coir or cocoa- 

 nut fibre, and from the difficulty of procuring 

 any large timber, the whole is constructed of 

 small pieces of the wood of the country, fastened 

 together with pegs, often of bamboo, iron being 

 only used to secure the ribs and knees ; so 

 weak is the whole affair that during the floods 

 it is calculated some forty or fifty boats are lost 

 in the lower part of the river annually. The 

 Dundi consists of three distinct parts, the two 

 sides and bottom, the latter being adjusted to 

 the others by warping the others up to the slope 

 required, and then strengthened with joints or 

 ribs [as they are termed], — the boat thus admits 

 of being dismembered and transported ; — a cor- 

 roboration of the accuracy of Alexander's his- 

 torians, who describe the same process, as may 

 to this day be seen on this river. The dangers 

 of Indus navigation to native craft are increased 

 by logs of wood fixing in the sand-banks and 

 projecting their points upwards, called on the 



