WESTERN HINDOOSTAN. 



the foreft ; and its circumference fo great, as to occafion hyper- 

 bolical exaggeration. Pliny fays, that the joints of thofe which 

 grew about the AcefineSy are fo large, that a fingle one is fuf- 

 ficent to make a boat. *' Navigiorum etiam vicem praeftant (11 

 '' credimus) fingula internodia." Pliny feems to credit the re- 

 lation ; and Acofia^ (Aromatum liber) an author of credit, in- 

 forms us, that he had frequently feen them in ufe on the river, 

 near Cranganor, on this coaft, and that they were capable of 

 carrying two Indians', one fate on each end, with their knees 

 joined, and each carried a fliort oar, or paddle, with which they 

 rowed with vaft rap-.dity, and even againft the ftream. The 

 honorable Edward Monkton, who had been at Goa, has alTured 

 me, that the above mud have been a miftake. The largeft 

 joint he ever finv (which always grows at the bottom of the 

 plant) was not two feet in length, and about the thicknefs of a 

 llout man's leg. 



The bamboo is fubfer^'ient to other vifes limilar, but far more 

 important. The reed, foimed into a frame, and covered with 

 Ikin, becomes a boat of the fame fort with the Br i tip coracles, 

 or rather the vitilia navigia, in which the Britons even croffed 

 our narrow feas *. Jyder Alii had great numbers, w^hich he car- 

 ried with him in his campaigns : thofe frames were carried by 

 two men, and the fkins by two more ; and in a quarter of an 

 hour they were ready for ufe ; one of thefe veffels was capable 

 of containing twenty-five men, or a piece of cannon, with 

 which they croffed any rivers they found in their march t. As 

 to the horfes, they fwim by the fide of the coracle, held by the 

 horfeman (who is in the boat) by the bridle, in the fame 



* Tcur in Wales, i; 234, t Hift. of AyJer AUi, i. ii6. 



niannei: 



143 



