134 
Pettah of Columbo, 
day, swarms with people of all descriptions. In the street, 
next the sea, is an excellent hsli market, well supplied from the 
sea, the lakes, and rivers in the neighbourhood. Fish, indeed, 
forms a considerable part of the food of tlie inhabitants ; and 
the procuring and bringing it to market affords employment to 
a number of people. The boats or canoes used in their fisheries 
particularly attracted my notice. They are of a curious shape 
and construction, used only in Ceylon, and extremely well cal- 
culated for the purpose they are put to. In length they are 
about fifteen feet, and not more than two in breadth. This 
shape is calculated to make them go incredibly fast, especially 
with the addition of a very large square sail, which one Avould 
imagine them incapable of carrying without being overset. To 
prevent this, an ingenious, and to an European, a very extra- 
ordinary contrivance is employed. A log of wood is extended 
five or six feet from the end of the boat, by way of out-rigger. 
It is larger or smaller according to the size of the boat, and is 
shaped at each end like tlie prow of a canoe, to cut through 
the water. This log is fastened to the boat by two long and 
bent poles ; and seems to serve at once for helm and ballast. 
Strange as this contrivance may appear, it is indispensably ne- 
cessary ; as from their extreme narrowness . the boats would 
without it be upset by a person simply stepping into them. 
They have one mast to which the square sail is attached in 
such a manner, that the boat is capable of sailing either way ; 
and can be made instantly to move in an opposite direction 
without turning or tacking, but merely by swinging the sail of 
the yard round. A paddle, something in the form of a shovel, 
is used to guide the boat’s head. 
The body of the canoe is a large tree hollowed out by fire, 
