INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 141 



sea-going sister of that handsome matron, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf baggala, or in 

 the humbler machwa of the fisherman and in the coasters known as nauris and dhangis, 

 several principal characteristics are seen. All hoist the Arab lateen ; all lift to the 

 long swell of their seas the great forereaching grab bow ; all have a deep forefoot and 

 a raking stern. The machwa is entirely open and undecked whereas the kotia and 

 the baggala have a high castellated decked poop and a properly laid main deck. 



The universal rig is the lateen, wider and stouter in form than the loftier and 

 more elegant felucca-lateen of the Mediterranean. The true Arab pattern of cutting 

 off the fore angle of the sail is followed, so that a short perpendicular edge or luff of 

 several feet in length is given below the heel of the yard. The baggalas, kotias, nauris, 

 dhangis, and some of the larger machwas have both main and mizzen masts ; the for- 

 mer is a stout heavy spar stepped nearly amidships with a great rake forward to en- 

 able it to carry the weight of the heavily yarded sail in the right place. The mizzen 

 is a much smaller spar with a less pronounced rake forwards. Of rigging there is 

 remarkably little, usually only a forestay and a pair of stays on either side. The 

 yard is hoisted by a stout halyard passing from the fore side through a sheave at the 

 masthead with an enormous three-sheave wooden block stropped to the end. The pur- 

 chase leads to another gigantic four-sheave block placed just in front of the poop, 

 an arrangement identical with that used by the Egyptians in the rig of the great 

 galleys that sailed on that wondrous voyage to Punt some i,6oo years before our era. 

 Upon the buggala and the kotia as the aristocrats of these seas, the builders lavish 

 much skill and care. Their high poops have the stern windows (the aft end being of 

 that obliquely truncated form known to sailors as a raked transom stern) often highly 

 ornamented with a considerable amount of conventional nautical carving — scrolls, rope 

 designs and simple arabesques. The bottom, to about the water line, is sometimes 

 coppered but generally is coated with a white pitch most characteristic of Arab ship 

 finish, carried upwards in a wide sweep on either bow. Above this the hull and the 

 poop superstructure are soaked and scoured with oil after every overhaul and to the 

 eye (the nose should not be consulted) the rich red-brown colouring taken on after 

 several applications is particularly pleasing. The bow is notably low and unobtrusive, 

 and this taken in conjunction with the high poop is distinctly an antique combina- 

 tion of much significance. To see a great kotia foaming through the water with a 

 fair wind, the sun lighting the great spread of white sail and red carved poop, is one 

 of the prettiest sights in Eastern seas and one that instinctively heightens our respect 

 for the race that has evolved the type, powerful and admirably fitted for deep-sea 

 service. 



At several of the larger ports of the North- West coast the building of kotias and 

 machwas is an important industry, in spite of the fact that nearly all the timber has 

 to be imported from the Malabar coast. Here are built the fine kotias, running from 

 50 to 80 feet in length and up to 150 tons in size, which trade with Cochin and Cali- 

 cut to the south and as far as Zanzibar on the west. Constant and intimate traffic 

 is carried on with the Persian Gulf and many of the vessels built in India are con- 

 structed to the order of Gulf Arabs or are sold eventually to them. 



