1 84 1 .] Wood's Report on the River Indus. 53 1 



once secured by crooked pieces of timber to the flat future bottom of 

 the doondah. To bring the bow and stern up to the corresponding 

 parts of the side is more difficult ; and to effect this^ many days are 

 necessary. Where the bow and the stern are to rise, the planks are 

 lubricated with a certain composition, which gives them a tendency to 

 curve upwards, and this is further increased by the iapplication of force. 

 The extremes thus risen, a tackle is stretched between them, and by 

 constant application of the heating mixture, and a daily pull upon the 

 purchase, they rise to the required angle, and are secured to the side, 

 while an advantageous curve is imparted by this process to the plank 

 in the boat's bottom. The bow of the doondah is a broad inclined 

 plane, making an angle of about 20° with the surface of the water. 

 The stern is of the same figure, but subtends double the angle. 



Advantages of this construction, — To the slight curve in her 

 bottom planks she is indebted for the following advantages : — In 

 descending a river, should she strike upon a sand bank the boat turns 

 like a top, and presents no stationary point for the stream to act 

 against. A merely flat-bottomed vessel would probably shew her 

 broadside, and the stronger the current was running, the greater 

 would be the difficulty in getting such a boat again into deep water. 

 Thus in a situation where the doondah experiences but a little incon- 

 venience, and occasionally it may be a few hours' detention, a boat of 

 another and but a slightly altered form would be very awkwardly 

 placed, though her safety might not be actually endangered. In 

 passing through eddies, the common or wedged. shaped bow dips con- 

 siderably, while the form of the doondah's prow has a tendency to 

 lighten her draft, and the more rapid the current or the greater her 

 velocity, the more buoyant she floats. When forced out or against 

 the river's banks — an accident which the defective steerage of the 

 doondah renders of frequent occurrence in tracking — the form of her 

 bow, where the bank is not too high, parries the violence of the shock. 

 A greater defect in the common wedged-shaped bow for river navi- 

 gation, (at least in those of the Indus, where the current is very 

 irregular,) is the surface it presents for currents or cross-currents to 

 act against ; these force the boat from its course, and deprive the helm 

 of its power. In tracking this is often seen; and I can remember 

 rather a ludicrous instance which occurred to the Indus Steamer, 



