224 J. HORNELL ON INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 



Babylonian affinity with Indian river craft, is seen in two instances ; the first is 

 the wicker coracles used on the Tungabhadra, the Cauveri and a few other rivers 

 (PI. V, fig. 6), the other is the ornamentation of the passenger barges of Benares. 



The coracles of Indian rivers approximate in construction closely to those des- 

 cribed by Herodotus as used by the merchants of Assyria to convey their goods down 

 the Tigris. Alike in the ancient Mesopotamian and the modern Indian coracle, the 

 craft was made water-tight by covering the outside with hides, thereby differing from 

 the modern coracle or guff a of the Euphrates and Tigris which is coated with pitch. 

 The Indian coracle, like its Chaldean relative, sometimes attains quite a large size, 

 up to 12 or even 14 feet diameter across the mouth ; small ones are used largely to ferry 

 passengers across rivers, while the larger are used for bulky or heavy transport down 

 stream. I cannot however accept the statement of Herodotus that the Tigris coracle 

 could carry 5,000 talents weight, for taking the talent at 60 lb., this would involve 

 a burden of over 130 tons. Indian coracles have, however, been used for the trans- 

 port of a i2-pounder gun with half-a-dozen soldiers and a couple of boatmen, and 

 are in regular use by M. and S.M. Railway engineers in flood-time bridge repairs. 



A second Babylonian affinity with India seems to survive in the ornamentation 

 of Benares ceremonial barges with a boldly executed figurehead both at the bow and 

 at the upcurved stern. 



In this connection it is notable that the Phoenicians were in the habit of orna- 

 menting their vessels with a small image of one of their deities, which Herodotus 

 states was placed on the prow as a figurehead ; Hesychius and Suidas however say it 

 was placed on the poop. The figures of Phoenician ships that have come down to us 

 are all of war galleys with low ram-shaped prow, and these do not show any figure- 

 head; if one was used it may have been upon their merchant ships only. In any 

 case the forepart of Phoenician vessels was low and had not the upward curve seen 

 in Chaldean and Benares barges. 



