VI 
THE TIGER 
185 
As these numerous islands abounded with wild 
pigs, hog-deer, and other varieties of game, they 
were most attractive to tigers, and these animals 
were tolerably secure from molestation, as it was im¬ 
possible to shoot or even to discover them in grass 
10 feet high without a line of elephants. The 
improvement introduced by steam navigation gave 
an increased impulse to cultivation, as the pro¬ 
ductions of the country could be transported at a 
cheap rate to Calcutta by the large barges termed 
flats, which are fastened upon either side of the 
river steamers. These are 270 feet in length, and 
of great beam. The steamers are from 270 to 300 
feet from stem to stern, and are furnished with 
hurricane decks capable of stowing a large cargo, 
although the draught of water is limited owing to 
the numerous sandbanks that interrupt the channel. 
The peculiar conditions of the Brahmaputra, which 
render it necessary that these large vessels should 
be of very shallow draught, entail the necessity of a 
rudder 17 feet in length to afford a sufficient resist¬ 
ance for steering when running down the stream. 
The shock when striking upon a sandbank is suffi¬ 
cient to bury the stem .without straining the vessel, as 
the flat bottom remains fixed upon the soft soil for a 
few moments, during which the force of the stream 
upon so large a surface brings the steamer broadside 
on to the obstruction and releases the stem. It is 
then an affair of an hour or more to get her off the 
bank by laying out kedge anchors, and heaving upon 
the hawsers with the steam winches. 
