24 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



after they had started four or five hours, I mounted 

 my nag Gooty, and caught them up at the bottom 

 of the ghaut just as the sun was setting. We 

 passed the night at the MetrapoUiam bungalow, 

 after having ordered the head man of the village 

 to send to Seremogay and have a boat prepared 

 for us against the morrow, as I purposed going 

 down the Bowani as far as the confluence of the 

 Mooyaar. 



At the dawn next morning we embarked in our 

 strange craft, which was nothing more than a 

 round saucer-shaped basket about fourteen feet 

 in diameter and thirty inches in depth, made of 

 bamboo, and covered with raw bullock hides sewn 

 together. At the bottom we strewed branches and 

 bundles of straw, so as to prevent the horses' hoofs 

 from breaking through, and, all being prepared, 

 our boatman pushed oiF. No rowing was required, 

 as we were driven down the stream by the force of 

 the current at the rate of about five miles an hour, 

 the boatman keeping in deep water by means of a 

 broad paddle, which not only acted as a rudder, but 

 prevented the boat from turning round and round, 



