1920. | The Tigari. 37 
used as a true boat, in the upright position with the con- 
the seat a small wooden plank is mostly placed a little above 
the bottom ; in some cases, however, quantities of grass and 
other cattle-fodder fill up the concavity of the vessel and serve 
as a fairly comfortable seat Only a single paddle, of the type 
(fig. 1,a) ordinarily used by boatmen in Bengal, is used both for 
paddling and as a rudder. The course of movement is altered 
by the use of the paddle on alternate sides, and for progression 
the paddle is used in the ordinary way. When paddling is 
carried on, the tigari travels in a fairly straight course, but 
when allowed to drift with the current it turns round and 
round in a whirligig fashion. The rate of movement is quite 
fast, and in many cases fairly long distances are covered in 
these frail structures. 
At the present day, the ¢igari is in use in various parts of 
Eastern Bengal, particularly in the districts of Dacca and Raj- 
shahi. Jt is used by men, women and even children for cross- 
ing streams and for going from place to place. In the various 
districts of Eastern Bengal, where the lands are for a large 
part of the year covered over with water, and where movement 
less costly and more useful as a handy type of craft could have 
been devised. Originally the tigart was nothing more than 
the basin for feeding the cattle, a purpose for which it is used 
even to-day. Probably by chance it was found that it could be 
used as a boat also, and was thereupon adopted by all classes, 
and particularly the poorer people who can barely afford 
the luxury of a boat or even a dugout. It is of interest to 
mention in this connection that practically all the inhabitants 
of Eastern Bengal are good swimmers, and all they require is 
some sort of a craft for fording streams and moving from place 
' to place. 
The words tigart and gamla are both very significant. 
-Tigari is derived from tigar, which is the name of a somewhat 
oval structure made of dry earth for the purpose of making 
clay-mortar by mixing water and earth. The word tigart, 
therefore, signifies something made of clay and is really a very 
general term. The term gamla means a flower-pot or the 
sin used in feeding cattle. Both these names are rather 
inappropriate, except in so far as one is descriptive of the 
material of which the structure is made, and the other throws 
some light on the original nature of the tigari or gamla. 
' This peculiar type of boat has the same circular form as a 
