1841.] Wood's Report on the River Indus. 533 



distends their ample robes^ and a farther character of stateliness 

 is imparted to ihejumptee. Large red flags were over her stern, and 

 from the raking mast streams a long party-colored pendant that anon 

 skims the water, as the breeze lulls and freshens. In the bow of 

 the boat is a small crimson pavillion, in which royalty reclines, and 

 in the other extreme of the vessel, a roomy cabin of elaborately carved 

 work, for its numerous attendants. 



The steersman on an elevated platform, stands in bold relief, and 

 while he guides the boat, encourages the trackers. The jumptee's crew 

 are a noisy set; but for aged men, wonderfully good humoured. They 

 are divided into two gangs or watches, and are as partial to a cup of 

 good banff, as sailors are to grog. These boats are decked, and of consi- 

 derable tonnage. One which I saw at Hyderabad, measured one hundred 

 and twenty feet over all, with a beam of 18J feet; her draft of water 

 was two feet six inches, she pulled six* oars, and had a crew of thirty 

 men. They are built of Malabar teak, chiefly at the ports of Mughribee 

 and Curatchee. Jumptees are seldom lost ; the only danger to which 

 they are liable is that of having their bottom pierced by sunken trees. 

 Their more substantial build keeps the frame of the boat together 

 in situations where the poor-pieced shell of a doondah would fall asun- 

 der. The doondah is the cargo boat of Sinde ; her principal and almost 

 her sole employment being, the transport of grain. 



The Cowtell — This again is the ferry boat of Sinde ; her construc- 

 tion adapts her for this service, and for conveying houses up and down 

 the river. From her great beam and high draft of water, she is a 

 faster boat than the doondah. In all their excursions on the river, the 

 Ameers are accompanied by many boats of this description. The class 

 is not numerous, and most of the boats are the property of govern- 

 ment. 



The doondee is common from the sea to Mittun, and the boat most 

 generally used in the fisheries, both upon the river and its dunds, 

 (small lakes). It is the smallest description of vessel upon the Indus, 

 and at the same time one of the most useful. Two men are ample to 

 its management ; but a man and wife are its usual crew. 



The Tiohruk. — What the doondah is in Sinde, the zohruJc is upon 

 the Upper Indus, namely, the common cargo boat of the country. The 



3 X 



* So in MS. ? 16 oars? Q\ 



