48 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The width of the stern is intermediate between the dory and sharpy skiff, being much 
wider than the former and narrower than the latter. The constrnction of the stern is 
purely oriental in style, and not only resembles boats of China bnt is almost exactly 
like the Japanese isobune. The planks on each side project several inches abaft the 
cross-planking of the stern, and over the latter there is sometimes a piece of board laid 
flat, extending athwartships, its ends passing through the planks on each side just 
beneath the gunwales. 
Ordinarily boats of this type, which are in great favor among the Chinese fisher- 
men, are entirely open, with a short platform at the bow a few inches below the gunwale ; 
a similar platform at the stern, and three narrow thwarts. The mast steps about 8 feet 
from the stem. The accompanying illustration (plate xvii) shows a fleet of these skiffs 
that are used by the squid fishermen, lying on the shore near the Chinese fishing camp 
at Monterey. 
These boats are built of redwood by the Chinese. The following are the dimen- 
sions of one of them of the average size : 
Feet. Inches. 
Length, over all 20 11 
Beam, extreme 5 10 
Depth 2 4 
Width of stern ' 3 6 
A writer gives the following description, in the American Field, of a type of Chinese 
fishing boat used on the Pacific coast, a sample of which he saw at a Chinese camp 
near Point Madison, on Puget Sound : 
There was hut one boat hauled up on the outer beach, and she was evidently hardly seaworthy. 
Her appearance was that of a typical Chinese fishing boat; her bottom was flat, sides slightly rounded, 
broad, square stern high out of water, low, narrow, square how, and strong sheer. She was open, 
with a broad washboard all around, and a little deck in the hows and at the stern, and was divided 
into four compartments by water-tight bulkheads. There was no mast, and only six thole pins with 
double notches to hold the grommets that are shipped over the handle of the long sweeps just above 
the broad blades that are nailed to them. The sweeps are handled after the fashion of the Venetian 
gondoliers by the oarsmen who stand on the opposite side of the boat. She was 15 feet long and 4 or 5 
feet broad at the stern, the widest part. 
