BOATS and SHIPS, the FR*. and Karib of the Arabs; the Markal, Kayik, Sandal, Nao, Jahaz, and Kishti of India.
The difference as to size between the boat and the ship, so marked in Europe, is less observable amongst the communities of Eastern and Southern Asia ; and the Kishti of the people of India, the Prahu and the Kora-kora of the Malay, the vari ous kinds of Manche of Pambam, Mangalore, and Panyani, and the Patamar, range from a few tons to a few hundred tons. In India the Nao and the Kishti, in Burma the Thu or The and Serpa, are boats that might be described sepa rately. In Britain, even, a boat may be a large or small vessel, used for traffic and passage, rowing or sailing on seas or rivers, and receiving names according to the construction, form, or purpose to which it is applied, as the wherry, punt, gig, pinnace, yawl, skiff, lugger, ferry boat, steamboat, packet boat, jolly boat, long boat, lifeboat, and canal boat ; and in size they may range up to 15 tons burden. The sea-going vessels are known as sloop, smack, cutter, clipper, schooner, brig, brigantine, barque, and ship, and range from 15 to 3000 tons.
The boats in use along the coasts of the Penin sula of India well illustrate the readiness with which seafaring people adapt their materials to the requirements of their respective localities, and the rapid sailing boats of Bombay and the vicinity of Cannanore, and the Catamaran and Masula boat of the Coromandel coast are illus trations of this adaptation.
Ganja is a boat used for travellers on the Nile.
ilitepe, of Zanzibar, called Muntafiyah by the Arabs, is a sailing ship with a beam one-third of its length. Its planks are pegged together, not nailed, and it carries from 12 to 20 tons.
Badan, a sailing ship of Sur, Sohan, and Mus cat, has a standing plank covering; makes 11 knots an hour.
Kelek, is a leathern raft in use on the Euphrates and Tigris, and was known to the ancients as the Navigia Coriacia.' linfa, the circular bowl-shaped basket-boat (from the Arabic word, which means basket), is also used as the common wherry boat. Its fabric is of close willow-work, well coated, and made water proof with the bituminous product of the coun try. It holds about three or four persons, with
room enough, though not in the most agreeable positions. It is moved across by paddles. Hero dotus notices the different kinds of boats plying on the rivers of Babylon, mentioning them as composed of willows and the skins of animals ; and adds, that on their arrival at the great city, the owners sold all the material of the boats excepting the skins, and those they packed on the backs of asses, and carried whence they came. A raft is made of full-grown sheep and goats' skins, which are taken off with as few incisions as possible, and then blown up like a bladder and dried. A square framework, formed of poplar beams, branches of trees and reeds, is constructed of the size of the intended raft ; the inflated skins are tied to it by osier and other twigs, the whole being firmly bound together. The raft is then moved to the water and launched. Care is taken to place the skins with their mouths upward, that, in case any should burst or require refilling, they can be easily opened by the raftmen. Upon the framework of wood are piled bales of goods and property, belonging to merchants" and travel lers. When any person of rank or wealth descends the river in this fashion, small huts are constructed on the raft, by covering a common wooden taklit or bedstead of the country with a hood, formed of reeds and lined with felt. In these huts the travellers live and sleep during the journey. The poorer passengers bury themselves, to seek shade or warmth, amongst .the bales of goods and other merchandise, and sit patiently, almost in one position, until they reach their destination. They carry with them a small earthen inaugal or chafing dish, containing a charcoal fire, which serves to light their pipes and to cook their coffee and food. The only real danger to be apprehended on tho river is from the Arabs, who, when the country is in a dis turbed state, invariably attack and pillage the rafts. Tho raftmen guide their rude vessels by long oars (straight poles), at the end of which a few split canes are fastened by a piece of twine.