INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 187 



as most probably the prototype of the strange shoe-dhoni of Cocanada and the Goda- 

 vari delta. The name they go by is sangddam and it is noteworthy that this term 

 is used also in Ceylon and in the Tamil country of the south for any kind of double 

 canoe. 



Of river craft other than the primitive relics of prehistoric boat-building, the 

 Ganges from Benares to the sea provides the best Indian example of a busy inland 

 waterway. Except on the crowded rivers of China, a busier scene than that in the 

 lower reaches is nowhere to be met with anywhere in the world — two endless proces- 

 sions of craft of all sizes, but in the main of one general type, passing continuously up 

 and down on the bosom of the silt-laden mother of rivers. 



A distinctly old-world feeling pervades the scene ; the majority of the boats have 

 the high stern and low bow of the craft that crowded the Nile in those far-off days 

 before Arab influence had appeared to change out of all semblance the stereotyped 



Fig. 24. — A Ganges dinghi. 



designs affected by the worshippers of Amen and Osiris. The chief exception is the 

 ubiquitous one-man passenger dinghi of sampan habit that loiters about hawkeyed on 

 the look-out for possible fares (fig. 24). In these little skiffs, the mosquito craft of the 

 river, the boatman squats aft paddling on the low sharp stern. The bow rises sharply 

 to end in a narrow-pointed stem about 2 to 2\ feet higher than the level of the stern. 

 A neat cabin with semicircular roof occupies the space available amidships. With a 

 fair wind and some considerable distance to go, a tall bamboo mast is stepped abaft 

 the cabin and a thin cotton sprit-sail hoisted high enough to enable the boatman to see 

 ahead as he stands at the stern steering with a long paddle. 



All the larger boats, whether small fishing boats or large rice carriers, with the 

 frequent need to row against the current are characteristically low forward. The stern 

 is particularly high with a view to give the steersman a clear outlook. Usually bow 

 and stern are sharp, the latter greatly raked. These boats may indeed be said to be 



