THE HOUSEBOAT UP-COTJNTRY. Hfi 



Anchoring. — Never allow your lowdah to anchor the boat in, or close to, a village — 

 he will certainly do so if he can, to save himself and boatmen the trouble of a short walk 

 to get rice, &c., for the crew. The result may possibly be a row with the villagers, as the 

 boatmen are fond of squeezing when they can put forward foreigners as the excuse ; in any 

 case you will be surrounded by a crowd of dirty natives, half-naked children, dogs, &c., &c., 

 whose room is certainly to be preferred to their company. All this can be avoided by 

 making the lowdah take the boat on for about half-a-mile, land the coolies who have to go 

 for provisions, and anchor the boat on the side of the creek opposite to the towing path. 



The lowdah should have standing orders never to stop the boat in or near a village or 

 town during the night. Nor should he bring the boat to an anchor for the night near paddy- 

 fields which are under water, or any low ground. 



He should never be allowed to stop the boat during the night without orders. If 

 circumstances render a breach of this rule necessary, he should be instructed to wake up 

 one of the party. 



Lowdahs are very fond of stopping the boat or going " dead slow " for an hour or two 

 during the night without any sufficient reason, especially if they have to deal with young or 

 inexperienced travellers, the result being a loss of valuable time and possibly of a day's 

 shooting. 



Moving the Boat.— When any member of the party leaves the boat to go out 

 shooting the lowdah should at once put up the mast and hoist the flag. If the boat is 

 under-way at the time, he should keep a coolie on the bank who should watch the gun, listen 

 for the sound of a shot and regulate the pace of the boat accordingly. Otherwise much 

 inconvenience may be caused to the sportsman who will, unless very careful, find his 

 progress interrupted by a creek, and have an unnecessarily long walk before he can catch 

 up the boat. 



When the shooting ground is reached and the shooting party once on shore, the boat 

 should not he moved unless each member thoroughly understands, not only that she is to be 

 moved, but also the position she will occupy after the change of ground — attention to this 

 nde is most important. 



If one member of the shooting party returns to the boat before the others, he should 

 never alter the position of the boat. The men who have gone on shore have (or ought to have) 

 taken the bearings of the boat before striking inland, and any change of position may 

 confuse them and cause them to lose their way. Directly the shooting party leave the 

 boat the flag * should be hoisted, and not lowered again until every member has returned, 

 or until it is too dark for the flag to be discerned, when a masthead lantern should be hoisted 

 in its place. If one member of the party returns before the rest, he should on reaching 

 the boat tell the lowdah to droop the flag (this is done by slackening the halyards so as 

 to allow the bamboo on which the flag is fastened to swing at right angles to the mast) 

 the other members of the party will then know that he is on board. 



Misconduct of Crew. — The lowdah and boatmen when in country districts are much 

 given to presuming on their connection with foreigners and often try to squeeze the country 



* The flag should be fastened to a long slender bamboo so as to give it additional hoist, and make it more 

 conspicuous from a distance. 



