The Tista river in the Terai at Leelpigoree is npigated by canoes, 30 to 40 feet long, sonic be- ,g rudely cut out of a solid log of sal, while others are built, the planks, of which there are but few,‘ being sewed together, or clamped with iron, and the seams caulked with the fibres of the root of the dhak (Butea frontless), and afterwards smeared with the gluten of Diospyros embryopteris. The bed of the river is here three-quarters of a mile across, of which the stream does not occupy one-third ; its banks are sand-cliffs, fourteen feet in height.
On the Irawadi rivers, two kinds of vessels, of entirely different structure, are used, the larger of which may reach to 120 or 130 tons burden.
Tho larger boats are termed Mw, and are of the form of construction more commonly met with. Tho keel-piece is a single tree hollowed out, and stretched by the aid of fire when green,—a complete canoe, in fact. From this, ribs and planking are carried up. The bow is long, with beautiful hollow lines, strongly resembling those of the modern steamers. The stern rises high above the water, and below the run is drawn out fine to an edge. A high bench or platform for the steersman, elaborately carved, is an indispensable appendage. The rudder is a large paddle lashed to the larboard quarter, and having a short pillar passing athwart the steersman's bench. The most peculiar part of the arrangement of these vessels is in the spars and rigging. Tho mast consists of two spars ; it is in fact a pair of shears, bolted and lashed to two posts rising out of the keel-piece, so that it can be let down, or unshipped altogether, without any difficulty. Nearly the same kind of mast is used by the Illanun pirates of the Eastern Archipelago. When chased, they are thus enabled to run into a creek and drop the mast instantaneously, so that it gives no guidance to their whereabouts. Above the mainyard the two pieces run into one, forming the topmast ; wooden rounds run as ratlines from one spar of the mast to the other, forming a ladder for going aloft. The yard is a bamboo or a line of spliced bamboos of enormous length, and, being perfectly flexible, is suspended from the masthead by numerous guys or halyards, so as to curve upwards in an inverted bow. A rope runs along this, from which the huge mainsail is suspended, running on rings, like a curtain, both ways from the mast. There is a small topsail of similar
arrangement. The sailcloth used is the common light cotton stuff for clothing. If of any heavier material, it would be impossible to carry the enormous spread of sail which distinguishes these boats. The mainyard of one vessel was found to be 130 feet long, and the area of its mainsail would not be very much less than 4000 square feet, or one-eleventh of an acre. From their rig, these boats can, of course, scarcely sail but before the wind. But in ascending the Irawadi, as on the Ganges during the rainy season, the wind is almost always favourable. A fleet of them speed ing before the wind with the sunlight on their bellying sails, has a splendid though fantastic appearance. With their vast spreading wings and almost invisible hulls, they look like a flight of colossal butterflies skimming the water.
Pein-go or Pein-go-nza is another description of Burmese boat, and it is said to be the peculiar craft of the Ning-the or Kyendwen river. Though it traffics to all parts of the Irawadi, it is exten sively used at Ye-nan-gyoung for the transport of petroleum. It is flat-bottomed or nearly so, having no canoe or keel-piece like the Hnau, but being entirely composed of planks, which ex tend throughout the length of the vessel, wide in the middle and tapering to stem and stern like the staves of a cask. A wide gallery or sponson of bamboo, doubling the apparent beam of the boat, runs the whole circuit of the gunwale. These boats are generally propelled by oars or a pole, though occasionally carrying sails, but not of the same spread of cloth as the Hnau. The prow of a Burmese boat appears to be regarded by the Burmese boatmen with almost as much supersti tious veneration as the quarter-deck of a frigate is by an English post-captain.
The buoyancy of the Pein-go boat is increased by one or two large hollow bamboos being lashed with rattans along the water-line. When laden with cargo made up into bales, a ledge, about 3 or 4 feet broad, made of bamboos, with a rail, is thrown out the whole length of the sides, for increase of stowage. The cargo is protected by a thatch roof. The steersman sits at the stem on a high chair, elaborately carved, and having a little thatch roof. When not favoured by a breeze the boat is propelled by 6 or 8 rowers.