THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
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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, or scooped out by the carpenters. Along the sides of 
it, boards are nailed to the height of about two feet, in the 
form of a gunwale, to prevent the water getting in by raising 
the boat more above its surface. When it is necessary to 
carry large burdens inland by the canals and rivers, two or 
three of these canoes are lashed together without the out- 
riggers. Split canes, bamboes, or betel-tree, are then laid 
across them, so as to form a kind of raft ; which, though ever 
so much loaded, will draw but very little water. 
Other flat-bottomed boats are also used by the natives. 
They are of a much greater breadth than those we have de- 
scribed ; they are thatched with cocoa-tree leaves, like a house, 
and are large enough to hold couches. They are very plea- 
sant conveyances, and are much used by our officers when 
going on shooting excursions. The owners of these boats, and 
vast numbers of the Cinglese, whose business it is to convey 
burdens by water from one place to another, live constantly 
on board of them. Near Columbo, in particular, I have often 
seen two or three hundred of these boats in regular rows 
moored along the banks of the river#, with entire families on 
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