144 J. HORNELL ON 



the great baggalas and kotias are almost identical with those of i6th century Euro- 

 pean vessels of the same size. 



The machwas used for fishing and minor coast traffic are of two varieties^ one 

 having the typical transom stern (fig. i), the other lean in the quarters and ter- 

 minating sharply in a greatly raked stern post. The latter type is by far the more com- 

 mon and is the fishing boat design par excellence on this coast and indeed as far south 

 as Bombay. It has but a single mast, usually made to unship, and the stern is low and 

 mean in marked contrast with the towering poop of the deep-sea type. The bow is 

 slightly higher and more prominent than the stern, ending sharply and without orna- 

 ment. Right aft is a " crutch " formed of two uprights set one on each quarter, and 

 connected above by a cross bar on which the long yard and even the mast itself rest 

 when the boat is lying to her nets. Still smaller is the harbour jolly boat, built on 

 the same lines and also used largely for inshore fishing. 



In the innumerable creeks of the delta of the Indus the primitive dug-out is 

 greatly in evidence. It is of the usual type and only very rarely have I seen it fitted 

 with an outrigger ; I have however seen it as far west as the mouth of the Hab river 

 in Baluchistan. 



The Bombay Coast. 



Here within the comparatively short range of 650 miles from the head of the 

 Gulf of Cambay to Bhatkal at the southern limit of North Kanara, we get consider- 

 able diversity of coast with corresponding variety in the coast craft, which show 

 essential dift'erences from the Arab types of the North-West coast. The races furnish- 

 ing the fisher and sailor classes are equally varied, both in origin, language, and religion. 



In the northernmost or Cambay section for 150 miles we get shoal water and 

 sandy bottom extending far to sea, and not a single harbour that can afford shelter 

 to fishing craft. The estuaries along this coast are also rapidly silting up and hence 

 it is that the boat people of these parts have to combine coast trade with fishing ; to 

 do so necessitates the use of large boats and hence we have the apparent anomaly of 

 a poor fishery coast sending to sea the largest fishing boats to be found anywhere in 

 India. The type used is a large machwa of handsome and careful construction. Of 

 these there are about 270 in all, ranging from 10 to 20 tons burden manned by a crew 

 of eight men. The supply of fish in their home waters being limited, the great 

 majority of these boats resort to the south Kathiawar coast for three months in the 

 fair weather season, taking to the carrying trade when the fishing becomes unprofit- 

 able. The cost of these boats runs to Rs. 2,500 in the case of the largest. They are 

 undecked save for a short length at the stern. The stem is sharp and raked strongly, 

 the stern truncate with but slight rake. The hull is nearly black in colour from fre- 

 quent applications of oil and sometimes of thin tar. According to the duty required 

 the details of rig and equipment vary. As cargo boats they carry two masts, both 

 with the Arab lateen, and heighten their freeboard by means of temporary mat and 

 bamboo weather-boards. When on this duty they display the characteristic Hindu 

 " Parrot's head " stem ornament, exactly as in the big kotias of Kathiawar. 



