DFC8 1920 1 



■0-/ 



The Origini> and Etknological SkpiificanGe of Indian Boat Designs.^ 

 By James Hornei.Iv, Director of Fisheries, Madras Government. 



[With Plates I— VI.] 



PART I.— BOAT TYPES NOW EXISTING IN INDIA. 



During recent years several ethnologists have endeavoured to adduce evidence of 

 the spread and penetration of ancient Mediterranean culture by sea along definite 

 trade routes from the Red Sea to India, thence eastwards to the myriad islands of the 

 Malay Archipelago and the Pacific and onwards to the American continent itself. A 

 great diversity of customs and many domestic articles of utility or ornament have 

 been examined to see how far they bear out this hypothesis. The enquiry from 

 which originated the following essay, was commenced with a view to see what light an 

 examination of the main types of sea and river craft found in India at the present 

 day would shed upon this theory of a cultural world drift from west to east. The 

 investigation had not i)roceeded far when it became apparent that a greater and far 

 more important problem was involved and that a careful study of what had appeared 

 at the beginning as disconnected and unimportant facts was capable of throwing 

 much needed illumination upon a hitherto unknown phase of the race problems of 

 India. 



One of the earliest facts we ascertain when investigating the designs of Indian 

 coast craft is the correlation of particular designs with definite regions on the coast 

 line characterised by some clearly marked physical features and usually also by racial 

 divergence. The amount of overlapping is comparatively insignificant and from all 

 we can see the prevalent designs of fishing craft are the same now in each region as 

 they were hundreds of years ago. Only in the larger coasting craft do we find evi- 

 dence of considerable recent change in design. 



The coast and island regions distinguished by characteristic boat types are as 

 follows : — 



{a) The North-West Coast, comprising Baluchistan, Sind, Kutch and 



Kathiawar, 

 (6) The Bombay Coast southward to Mangalore, 



(c) Malabar and Travancore, 



(d) The Gulf of Mannar, 

 {e) Palk Bay and Strait, 



(/) The East Coast northwards of Point Calimere, 

 (g) The Maldive and I^accadive Islands. 

 {h) The Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 



1 Read in abstract at the Ivahore Meeting of the Indian Science Congress, January 1918. 



