1841.] Wood's Report on the River Indus, 525 



there is seldom more than three-quarters of a fathom water on the 

 spot separating the channels. Whether alterations in the channels 

 of other large rivers are brought about in a similar manner, I am not 

 aware ; but this peculiarity, if it can be so termed, is familiar to 

 the boatmen on the Indus ; and with a description of the manner 

 of their meeting it, and of the precautionary measures to which 

 it gives rise, I shall conclude this notice of its navigation. 



No vessel with cargo on board makes a downward voyage unaided 

 by a pilot boat; it is called here sooee, or guide. These are small 

 cheap skiffs managed by a couple of men, one of whom standing on a 

 platform in the bows gives the depth of water, while the other, with 

 his scull over the stern, steers the boat. Cheap as the services of a 

 pilot may be had, the protracted length of the voyage makes it a 

 burden too weighty for a single cargo to bear, and the custom there- 

 fore is, for boats to drop down the river in fleets, or by divisions, 

 when sooees become so multiplied, that to every two or three large 

 boats a tender is attached. Grain being the only freight, all ship- 

 ments are made at a stated season of the year ; and as the quantity of 

 corn produced on the banks of the Indus in autumn far exceeds that 

 cut down in spring, the winter fleet outnumbers in an equal pro- 

 portion that which takes its departure about midsummer. In February 

 1837, when the river was at its lowest level, I counted forty-two grain 

 laden boats pass Sehewan on their way to Hyderabad, whither the 

 surplus of the Upper Provinces is yearly exported. 



The largest of these boats drew five feet and half an inch of water, 

 and the manner of conducting the fleet was as follows: — When the 

 day's stage has been fixed, a detachment of sooee went ahead to 

 sound, into each boat there being, besides her own small complement, 

 two or more of the doondah's men. On their arrival all is bustle 

 and noise in the fleet. The fastenings of the boats are cast off, the 

 oars are plied, and the huge hulk, preceded by her guide, shears out 

 into the stream. 



If the meerbars have confidence in the channels, and the wind be 

 fair, a large square sail is set, and the unwieldy doondah, deep though 

 she be, outstrips her tender, and seems to skim the surface of the water; 

 — such a fleet in motion is worth seeing. First, the large white sail of 

 the headmost boat is discovered at the top of the reach, then another, 



3 u 



