INDIAN BOAT DESIGNS. 249 



Middle Ages in the case of the large ships of commerce and war, except so far as the 

 ship's eyes may have become incorporated with those of .the figure-head of some 

 patron saint ; thenceforward its use was limited to the fishing boats and small coasting 

 craft of communities that clung with more than usual tenacity to the customs of their 

 forefathers. Such survivals at the present day are found among the boats of Portu- 

 guese fishermen/ the Xebecs of Calabria, the harbour craft of the Maltese,' and occa- 

 sionally among the fishing boats of the Sicilian and Creek coasts. 



Going eastward we find few survivals among any people under Muhammadan 

 influence.' Neither Arabs, Turks, nor Indian Muslims employ it ; with them its use 

 has ceased, doubtless from their appreciation of its association with religious beliefs 

 other than their own. 



In India and Ceylon it is wedded entirely with Hinduism ; usually these survivals 

 are in boats manned by Hindus of higher religious profession than is found on the 

 average among boat people of this religion. The four instances known to me com- 

 prise a certain class of cargo-carriers found on the Ganges, the small Hindu- owned 

 coasters of the north of Ceylon, the clumsy-looking kalla dhonis of Point Calimere over 

 against Ceylon and the masula-boats of the Coromandel coast. The first named are 

 clinkerbuilt boats used for heavy river traffic ; they may be seen any day discharging 

 stone and firewood alongside the ghauts at Benares. 



The eye in these, is fashioned in brass ; the opening of the lids elliptical, with 

 angular ends; an eyebrow in brass surmounts the eye, the ends turned up abruptly 

 and coiled (fig. 32). The design shows a marked approximation to that of the eye 

 of Osiris painted on the Egyptian death barge (fig. 30) particularly in the presence 

 and shape of the eyebrow. The hull of these Ganges boats is naked of paint save at 

 the prow where a black area is painted; the eye is within this region. At the time of 

 new moon {amavasi) a garland is hung from the stem-head, and worship {puja) per- 

 formed at the bow — -a ghee lamp is lighted, camphor is burnt, the sacred conch blown, 

 coloured paste smeared on the prow, while libations and offerings of flowers, rice, and 

 pan supari are made to the God whose protection of the boat and her crew is implored. 



The second instance of the survival of the oculus, is in connection with the com- 

 pletion and launching of the curious surf -boats in use on the Coromandel coast for seine 

 fishing and for loading and discharging cargo from vessels in the oifing.^ These boats 

 are constructed of planks sewn together with coir twine in order to give that elasticit}?- 

 without which they would break in pieces when grounding in their passage through 

 the surf. When newly-built boats are first launched, elaborate puja ceremonies are 

 performed connected with the worship of the sea-goddess Kanniamma, and one of the 



1 Chatterton, E. K., Sailing Ships, London (? 1909), p. 65. 



2 Pitt-Rivers, The Evolution of Culture and other Essays, Oxford, 1906, p. 225. 



i An apparent exception is seen at Chittagong and Rangoon, where the local Muhammadan boat-people employ 

 a modification of the Chinese sampan in great numbers. The details vary somewhat from the original and the " eyes" 

 are often put in very roughly as part of the general scheme of ornamentation adopted from the Chinese model. Among 

 the Malays, " eyes" are also occasionally seen on boats, e.g., in a model from Selangor in the Indian Museum, No. 2764. 



■* These are known to Europeans as *' masulah boats" but as padagu among Tamils. The Malay term prahu is prob- 

 ably derived from the latter word. 



