INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 



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with a well-marked rake forwards; the mainmast stepped amidships is 30 cubits long 

 while the mizzen mast of 28 cubits in length rises from the fore side of the poop. Both 

 the latter masts are almost vertical. The outrigger is of the balance-board type seen 

 in the southern Palk Bay fishing boats, differing however in being relatively much 

 shorter; it consists of a heavy palmyra plank laid athwart the gunwales ; it projects a 

 few feet outboard on each side. 



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Fig. 12. — Kalla dhoni of Kodikarai, Point Calimere. 



Some of the few remaining boats show a peculiar style of decoration such as is 

 seen nowhere else in India. Upon the hull, which above the water-line is thickly 

 coated with black pitch, a number of vertical white lines are spaced at intervals of 

 about a foot apart, forming squarish compartments. In each of these, between the 

 water-line and the gunwale the impression of a hand in white is seen. On the largest 

 of these boats there were 25 of these hand impressions on each side. In addition, 

 upon the transom stern a white disc occurs on the starboard side, a white crescent on 

 the port — representations of the sun and moon. The owners who call themselves Kara- 



