74 



THE BADAN. 



amount of grounding and bumping, nor is it 

 ever beached for the S. W. monsoon. It is 

 pegged together, not nailed, and mostly, as the 

 old traveller says, 6 sewn, like clothes, with 

 twine.' The tapering mast, raking forwards, 

 carries any amount of square matting, by no 

 means air-tight, and the stern is long and pro- 

 jecting, as if amphisbaenic. The swan-throat of 

 the arched prow is the cheniscus of the classical 

 galley-stem. Necklaced with strips of hide and 

 bunches of talismans, it bears a red head ; and 

 the latter, as in the ark of Osiris and in the 

 Chinese junk, has the round eyes painted white, 

 — possibly, in the beginning holes for hawsers. 

 The £ Mtepe ' carries from 12 to 20 tons, and 

 can go to windward of everything propelled by 

 wind. 



The Badan, from Sur, Sohar, and Maskat, has 

 a standing plank-covering, and being able to 

 make 11 knots an hour is preferred by passen- 

 gers, Arab loafers, and sorners, one being al- 

 lowed per ton in short trips. Descried from 

 afar through the haze, her preposterous sail has 

 caused the Zanzibarites to fly their flags in 

 anticipation of home news; nearer, the long, 

 narrow, quoin-shaped craft, with towering stern- 

 post and powerful rudder, like the caudal fin of 



