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J. HORNELL ON 



own channel home ; at low water these long channels, 2 to 3 feet wide, make the mud 

 flats look like a great railway yard with many sidings. 



In the shelter of Point Calimere is a little port called Kodikarai, once of much 

 importance in cross channel traffic with Ceylon, now practically forgotten. It is how- 

 ever an important fishing centre as the fine fishing grounds of Palk Strait are most con- 

 veniently reached from here. On the beach we see craft of notable form, the one a 

 heavy transom-sterned cobble used in fishing, the other, o ne of the most peculiar boat 

 survivals in India ; at first sight it is liable to be taken for an overgrown and antiquated 

 form of the smaller fishing cobble. It is in reality the largest and heaviest of any bal- 

 ance-board boat surviving in India (fig. 12). Its local name is kdlld dhoni, which 



Fig. II. — Three-masted balance-board boat of Adirampatnam (Palk Strait). 



being interpreted means "thief-boat"; the only explanation given for this name is 

 that " like a thief, this boat runs very fast." 



The hull is of clumsily built carvel form, the fore end curved, witli fairly heavy 

 bows. Aft is a low decked-in poop, a foot or so higher than the waist. The stern is 

 of transom design, and is nearly vertical, but instead of the powerful rudder being 

 hung on the sternpost in the usual fashion, the latter is built out at right angles to 

 the stern with thick planks, heavily strengthened with stout battens, to a distance 

 of about four feet. Upon the posterior edge of this is hung a very large rudder, of the 

 heavy and clumsy type characteristic of river and canal craft and seldom seen in sea- 

 going vessels. The rig consists of three squarish lug sails borne by three masts. The 

 very short foremast, only 10 cubits in length, is fixed without stays right in the bows, 



