INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 217 



From Marco Polo's account of the Arab vessels at OrmuZj it is clear that these 

 were much more like the Laccadive Island boats than the Arab carrying craft of the 

 present day as represented in the baggalas, dhangis and gunjos of the Persian Gulf 

 and West Coast of India. These latter mostly have two masts and all are put to- 

 gether with iron bolts and have the bottom pitched. Marco Polo specially notes that 

 the Arab ships seen by him at Ormuz (c.1272 and 1291) had but one mast, one sail, 

 one rudder and no permanent deck and that the planks were sewn together with 

 coir yarn, the bottom being smeared with fish oil but not pitched.' Such is essentially 

 the structure of the Laccadive boats, though these show such improvements as a 

 covered-in poop and the frequent employment of a small mizzen mast. Marco Polo 

 also remarks that they had no iron anchors. This traveller having had intimate experi- 

 ence of the magnificent junks built by the Chinese, which, even then, boasted the em- 

 ployment of numerous watertight compartments separated by transverse bulkheads, 

 were four or six masted, had numerous sails and accommodated wealthy passengers in 

 commodious state-rooms, thought poorly of the vessels built by the Ormuz Arabs. He 

 says they were of the worst kind, and dangerous for navigation, their defects proceed- 

 ing from the fact that nails were not employed in their construction. This poor opin- 

 ion must have been due largely to prejudice for such boats are still used successfully 

 and do not seem to be more dangerous than ironbolted vessels. In certain circumstan- 

 ces they have even considerable advantage and Ibn Batuta was right when he wrote 

 (A.D. circa 1340) that " the ships of India and Yemen being sewn together with coir 

 thread, when they happen to strike against a rock, the thread will yield a little but 

 will not soon break, contrary to what happens when put together with iron nails." ^ 



Marco Polo states that in these vessels after taking in their lading, this is covered 

 over with hides, whereon they place the horses which they carry to India — a state- 

 ment bespeaking their large size. 



We see from the above that the Indian and Arab vessels of the Persian Gulf and 

 the West Coast of India at the end of the thirteenth century were large enough to 

 carry considerable cargo together with a number of horses ; they were apparently 

 much like a single-masted pattimar of the present day but differed from the baggala 

 in having no high poop ; it is likely that they were round or sharp sterned and it is 

 probable that they had already adopted the lateen rig ("one mast and one sail," 

 Marco Polo, ut supra). 



This general form appears to have been prevalent on the West Coast from time 

 immemorial and probably originated from the habit still seen at Ratnagiri and the 

 neighbouring coast of making even fairly large boats out of dug-out canoes by adding 

 flared side or wash-boards, one above the other, to the edges of the dug-out. 

 The added planks were originally sewn edge to edge as in I^accadive boats, the out- 



booms and no outrigger is present; those of Boro Budur show twin-masts, the sails have booms as well as yards, and 

 outriggers, often with multiple booms, are a characteristic feature. Neither has Schoff any justification for calling 

 them Gujarati' ships ; they were local Javanese vessels, with lineal descendants of smaller size still surviving in the 

 coasting trade of East Java. 



» Yule's edition, Vol. T, p 103, 1871. 



• The Travels of Ibn Batuta, I^ee's translation, p. 178, L,ondon, 1S29, 



