1841.] Woods Report on the River Indus. 537 



Find Dadun Khan in the Punjab. If at the former place, it would be 

 desirable there only to prepare the frame ; but to build the boat, that 

 is, to put her together in the river, good artificers are to be had in the 

 country ; but the introduction of a few superior workmen from the 

 dockyard, with a clever native foreman or overseer would be necessary. 

 A smith is an indispensable accompaniment, and when steamers are 

 introduced, this establishment should, to be efficient, be possessed of 

 science, material, and skill. If Hyderabad were to be selected for build- 

 ing boats, still all the material must come from Bombay. If Pind 

 Dadun Khan had the preference, a small supply of cedar plank might 

 be there calculated upon, and the services of better workmen than are 

 to be procured in Sinde. 



Boat Hire. — In this charge there is some incongruity ; yet it does 

 not appear to exceed the rate of hire that prevails upon the Ganges.* 



VII. — Of Steam Vessels for the Indus. 



Naturally solicitous to be acquainted with the present state of inter- 

 nal steam navigation upon the Ganges, on presenting Government 

 with the result of my experience on this river, I addressed a letter, 

 forwarding a list of queries on the subject, to Mr. C. B. Greenlaw of 

 Calcutta, and through the kindness of that gentleman, I have been 

 favoured with the accompanying valuable report from the pen of 

 Captain Johnston, controller of Government steam vessels, — an officer 

 more conversant with these matters than any man in India. In sub- 

 mitting this document to his Lordship the Governor General in Coun- 

 cil, I will only remark, that in every essential point the class of vessels 

 described by Captain Johnston, seems well suited to the Indus, and the 

 economy that pervades the steam establishment upon the Ganges, 

 is worthy of imitation here. 



Towards the close of the year 1835, when the Indus steamer arrived 

 off Hyderabad, one of the Sinde Ameers expressed a wish to be possessed 

 of a similar, but a more powerful vessel. Captain Burnes, who was then 

 at that court, requested my opinion on the description of vessel best suited 



* See Appendix, Tables IV, VII, VIII, for the tonnage, price, and hire of Indus 

 ooats. 



