BECTlOti OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 87 



(G) A series of 22 models of fishing boats, canoes, dugouts, &c., used 

 in the United Slates, both l>\ aboriginal and white fishermen. This 

 collection lias been drawn from various sources, bat more particularly 

 from Alaska, and from the Atlantic coast, between Eastern Maine and 

 Washington, 1>. 0. It is of especial interest, as, combined with other 

 materia] of a similar nature previously acquired by the Museum, it. 

 makes up a collection representing nearly all of the more important 

 types of the smaller fishing craft used in the United States ami ItsTer 

 ritories. The greater part of this collection has been purchased, though 



in this as with other material, the .Museum has been the recipient of 

 numerous donations. 



(7) A collection of t full-sized fishing boats and 10 models of fishing 

 craft of the East Indies has been presented to the Museum by Sin 



^eon-General Prancil Day, P. L. S., late inspector of Her Majesty's 

 fisheries in India, and commissioner from India to the International 

 Fisheries Exhibition at London, 1883. This is an exceedingly interest- 

 ing collection, and without question it maybe safely asserted that it 

 forms. one of the most valuable accessions received by this department 

 of the Museum during the current year. Almost every specimen of 

 either full sized boats or models shows some interesting .peculiarity, 

 which, if space and time permitted, would merit a longer notice than we 

 are able to give it here. A brief mention of them must suffice. Perhaps 

 the most interesting of the various forms is that of a full-sized dugout 

 used at I'atna, in Bengal, where it is locally known as the "etka." This 

 boat is made from tin 4 stem of the semul tree (Bombax malabarieum), and 

 is very primitive in its construction, being, in fact, simply a large, clou 

 gated, trough-shaped canoe, unlike any other in the large collection of 

 dugouts in the Museum. 



Another very unique type of fishing boat, and perhaps one of the most 

 peculiar dugout canoes used by man, conies from Jessor, in Bengal, 

 where it is locally known as a "donga." This is constructed from the 

 stein of the tar palm tree (Borassus flabelliformis), the hard outer layer 

 of which, after the soft portion is scooped out, is very serviceable for 

 this purpose. It has much the appearance of an exaggerated spoon, 

 with a deep bowl and a large handle, the latter concaved on one side 

 and couvexed on the other, its end stopped or rendered water-tight by 

 a partition placed crosswise. The shape of the boat is due to the pecu- 

 liar growth of the stem of the tar palm, which swells out into a rounded 

 bulb-like form at one end. When it is said that the length of this cu- 

 rious boat is less than 13 feet, and that it is only 30 inches wide in its 

 broadest part and does not average more than a foot in width for about 

 two-thirds of its length, one will be fully able not only to appreciate the 

 manner in which man adapts means to ends to provide himself with 

 some sort of craft for carrying on his operations, but will also be able 

 to understand that a considerable degree of skill is required to navigate 

 a boat of this kind. 



