INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 149 



ment of the outrigger canoe The basis, in common with the better known Ceylon 

 form, is a dug-out canoe, which, having first been softened, has the sides cautiously 

 and slowly spread by means of wedges till they attain a distinct flare. On the flared 

 edges a series of strakes, also flaring outwards, is raised — Malay fashion — till the slab- 

 sided crank dug-out is changed to a beamy and fairly roomy boat capable of carrying 

 quite a heavy load of nets. A single outrigger is boomed out in the usual manner 

 and the boat carries a lateen sail of the same type as her larger sisters. 



All these boats carry a very small outrigger canoe as net tender. In this the 

 original dug-out is left unspread, and as the outrigger can readily be dismounted 

 this form has the advantage that it can be easily taken aboard and stowed out of 

 the way. 



A hurdle-like mast-crutch similar in form to that described above in the case of 

 Sind fishing boats is fitted aft on Ratnagiri boats of every size. Usually it is neatly 

 ornamented. It seems clear that the larger boats have been modelled upon the built- 

 up canoe form, the outrigger being dispensed with as soon as increasing beam gave 

 sufficient stability without recourse to such an awkward contrivance. To the Ratna- 

 giri coast people seems due the credit for the first advance in boat-building made on 

 the west coast of India ; there it is that we have to look for evidence oi an outside 

 influence long antedating that of the Arabs and the Portuguese. 



The Ratnagiri and Kanarese pattamar coasters are in turn cargo carriers de- 

 signed on the same general lines. On the Ratnagiri coast, using this term in a 

 wide sense, what may be termed the Ratnagiri type of single-masted fishing machwa 

 and two-masted coasting pattamars exist side by side with outrigger canoes, built-up 

 outrigger boats and ordinary creek dug-outs, but after Malwan, a little to the north 

 of Goa, the Ratnagiri machwa dies out completely, leaving the major part of sea- 

 fishing to be done by outrigger boats and canoes, with operations confined almost 

 entirely to the inshore waters. The largest outrigger boat is one used in seining, the 

 so-called Rampan boat. This is merely a long, deep, widely-spread canoe-shaped 

 boat fitted with an outrigger to give stability. Stem and stern are nearly similar and 

 no mast is carried, the boat being rowed while the net is being shot. 



After we pass Goa the number of true dug-outs employed in fishing rapidly in- 

 creases, and especially at Kumpta, Honavar and Mulki, these pungayls are very 

 numerous. They are the same as the odam dug-outs of Malabar. They are of con- 

 siderable size, from one to 3 tons' burden, and each carries a crew of 8 men normally. 

 In South Kanara these fine canoes are still more in evidence whereas the outrigger 

 boat is seen only in commission in the case of the Rampan boat which, be it noted, 

 is of comparatively recent introduction on this section of the coast, having been 

 introduced from Goa. The Kanarese fishermen and boatmen suffer distinctly from a 

 lack of enterprise and there is little to be learned from a study of their fishing craft. 

 Either they are outrigger boats borrowed from their northern neighbours, or are 

 primitive dug-outs from the south. 



Typical of their lack of boat-building skill are the coffin-shaped backwater cargo 

 carriers of Mangalore. Although this is one of the busiest ports on the west coast, 



