64 ON THE ORISSA COAST 



wards, as the weather grew rougher, we had also to 

 engage a local crew. On this open shore the surf, 

 even in the best weather, is so violent that landing 

 in an ordinary ship's boat is inconvenient or impos- 

 sible, especially when there are papers and instruments 

 to be taken care of ; and even with a surf boat, which 

 is a flabby craft of planks loosely sewn together so 

 as to ''give" to the waves, and with a skilled crew 

 who know exactly which wave to wait for, a wetting 

 is no uncommon incident. 



Our surf boat was the most rickety old sieve that 

 was ever kept afloat by dint of constant baling, but 

 she could compromise matters with a boiling surf, and 

 did us excellent service. Her crew were accommo- 

 dated in a little pen alongside my cabin : they were 

 lean and hungry when they joined, but they soon 

 became sleek and shiny on the ship's rations, which 

 included a liberal allowance of that delicious substance, 

 ghee. I would sometimes give themi cigars, which 

 they would smoke, holding the lighted end inside 

 the mouth so as to lose no particle of the flavour. 

 When they left us — which they did with much regret, 

 for regular pay and rations on the naval scale are 

 something for an Oorya boatman to remember all 

 the days of his life — they were comforted with half a 

 boatload of empty bottles and jam-tins, in the posses- 

 sion of which they were raised several degrees in the 

 local scale of civilisation. 



