INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 147 



gunwale and sometimes a white ribbon fore and aft. In those with poops and transom 

 sterns some crude ornamental painting is attempted — stars and imitation ports the 

 favourite. Pattamars are built chiefly at Konkan and Kanarese ports. They range 

 up to i8o tons' register, but the majority are less than half this size. 



This type has undoubtedly developed from that of the large fishing boat still used 

 at Ratnagiri and Rajpur, which in turn, as we shall see, is evolved from a spread and 

 built-up dug-out. The pattamar has also many points of family resemblance to the 

 old style coasting craft of Ceylon, as typified in the Yatra-dhoni — especially in the 

 character of the bamboo-decking, presence of a jibboom, and in evolution from an 

 outrigger fishing boat. Comparison enables us to see how far the pattamar has 

 travelled — the original square sails became a square-headed lug and then by reduction 

 of the luff, the Arab lateen of the present day. Similarly the jibboom increased in size 

 and importance, and from the sewn planking we have progressed to a bolt-secured 

 hull. In steering, the original primitive form of rudder, completely exposed outside 

 the stern of the vessel with tiller fitting over the rudder-head, has been retained. 

 The palm-thatched pent-house cabin is another well-marked primitive feature. 



Konkan Fishing Boats. 



The section of the coast from a little north of Bombay and on as far south as 

 Jaigarh or Jaigad, a few miles north of Ratnagiri, is generally rocky, well provided ex- 

 cept in the north with numerous good harbours, bays, and creeks to shelter the mosquito 

 fleet of fishing boats that crowd this coast. The fishermen are almost exclusively 

 Hindus. The machwas in this section are large for the same reason as those of the 

 Gulf of Cambay— their need to go far to reach the fishing grounds. A fine sea-boat is 

 a necessity and in the larger boats hailing from the ports in the vicinity of Bombay, 

 the fishermen have adopted a modification of the pattamar type of coaster for those 

 which operate in offshore waters. A typical 7-ton Bombay fishing machwa mea- 

 sures 47 feet in length over all, with a beam of 11 feet and depth of 3 feet. The bow 

 is long and raking with great overhang and considerable sheer, so that the actual 

 keel length is short relatively to the beam. Hence these dimensions give a shallow 

 beamy craft with great buoyancy both forward and aft — well adapted to the local 

 conditions of the coast. 



The rig consists of a large mainmast and small mizzen, both with considerable 

 rake forwards ; the sails are the usual pattamar lateens. 



lyike its large brother it possesses no permanent deck, but a temporary one is 

 laid when necessary. These boats run the Cambay boats close in the matter of size, 

 the larger ranging from 10 to 15 tons' burden with crews of from 10 to 12 men, the 

 smaller from 5 to 10 tons with proportionately fewer hands aboard. Bombay har- 

 bour shelters a host of smaller single-masted machwas otherwise of similar build, 

 together with still greater numbers of small double-ended canoe-shaped fishing boats 

 carrying a single mast and lateen sail. All these small craft come under the generic^- 

 name of hody but the men themselves have several distinct terms to distinguish 



