A curiously-formed vessel, of a crescent shape, carrying one mast and a largo lateen sail, trades between Baghdad and Bussora ; under a fair wind, it can reach the latter place in six or seven days.
The Kashmir boats are the Bagla, a large vessel ; the Parinda, a light, fast-sailing boat ; the Bahta, a large-sized barge for loading grain ; the Dung; for ordinary merchandise ; the Shikari, and the small Banduqi Shikari.
On the Indus, five kinds of boats are used be tween Attock and the sea. On the Kabul river and on the Upper Indus it is still the custom to stuff skins with reeds or straw, as floats. General Ferrier descended the Kabul river from Jalalabad to Attock on a raft so constructed. The best known aro the Zoruk of the Upper Indus, the .Dunda or Dandi, which plies from 3fithancoto to the sea, and the Dugga, which, from its strong build, is specially suited to the navigation of the rapids between Attock and Kalabagh. The better kinds of wood used in their construction (sissu and large baled) are procured with difficulty ; and various timbers are generally seen in one boat, such as sissu, babul, deodar, chir, bahn, and karil. Malabar teak is much prized in the Lower Indus, and fetches a large price. The ordinary ferry boats are constructed by the sides and bottom being prepared separately, and brought together to be secured by knees or crooked pieces nailed to the bottom and sides. The bottom is made of sissu, the knees of mulberry or olive, and the side planks of deodar. The wedges and trenails are usually made of tut and kahu. Ropes for rafts and boats are prepared either from hemp (Canna bis Indica), sirki (Saccharum spontaneurn), Typha latifolia, dib, or other reeds, common on the river bank. 3Iunj (Saccharum munja) is also largely employed by the native boatmen. The great boat building localities of the Panjab are Pind Dadun Khan, Wazirabad, Jhelum, Attock, Nowshera, Ilashtnagar, Mokhud, and Kalabagh.
The Panjab boats, ships, oars, etc., are made of Acacia speciosa, Capparis aphylla, Cedriis deodara, Dalbergia sissu, Fraxiuus floribunda, Olea Euro l'iuus longifolia, Populus Euphratica, and belvedere oleoides.
The boat in common use for transport in Sind and the lower part of the river is the Dunda or Dandi; it is flat-bottomed, with a slight convex inclination, for the additional facility of getting off sandbanks. The Dundi consists of three dis
tinct parts, the two sides and bottom, the latter being adjusted to the others by warping the end up to the slope required, and then strengthened with joints or ribs (as they are termed); the boat thus admits of being dismembered and trans ported, a fact corroborative of the accuracy of Alexander's historians.
On the Staid, in the Indus and lower 'Irmo. the Zoruk is frequently seen. It differs from the Dundi in having no elevation at the stem is square built, fore and aft, is of 40 to 50 tons burden, and carries no sail. The Zoruk is the common cargo boat at the Upper, as the Duren belongs to the Lower Indus; It Wahl pretty fast, and sinks with prodigious facility.
The Dundi is well adapted for the transport of goods, but from insufficient construction many aro annually lost. From the scarcity of large trees and the high price of teak plank, the carpen ters are obliged to use the small wood, and most of them are formed of innumerable pieces fastened by bamboo pegs, nails being employed only to secure the knees and ribs. It has one mast, is square-rigged, and can only sail before the winch Those on the Khori and P'harran branches of the Indus are from '20 to 30 candies burden.
Kotal is broad-beamed, and used as a ferry boat, The Jumpli, or state barges used by the late Amin, were strong, teak-built, double-intuited, decked vessels, propelled by enormous sweeps, and having pavilions at either extremity. The Zoruk, the Nawuk, and the Dunda are nearly all flat-bottomed, and, though clumsily formed, are strong and safe. The Nawuk and Dunda are found principally upon the Chenab and the Sutlej; they have pointed bows and sterns.
Illatthak.—Natives cross the Panjab rivers upon inflated buffalo and sheep skins, the mouth of which is sewn up, and the legs made air-tight below the knee and hock joints, so that the figure of the animal is somewhat preserved, and they are thus easily carried. Burnes says he has seen upon the Indus 'a man with his wife and children in the middle of the stream, the father on a skin drag ging his family, seated upon reeds, their clothes and chattels forming a bundle for the head.' Much art is required to manage these air-bags. Lieutenant Wood nearly lost his life in attempting to bestride a 3Iussak.