MANCHE. CAN. A boat or ship. The Calicnt manche is a boat very similar to that of Mangalore, with the exception only of a raking stem, for the purpose of taking the beach, as the port of Calicut is open to the coast and there is no river. These boats are propelled by the paddle and sail, and generally carry eight men. They are much employed in watering and completing the sea stock of ships homeward bound ; also in loading ships with pepper, timber, etc., from Bombay ; and in shipping the produce of the forests of Canara and Malabar, all of which is rafted off to vessels called dow, boatile, patamar, etc.
The Panyani manche is a coasting boat of about 50 feet long, 10 to 12 feet broad, and 5 to 7 feet deep. It is framed with timbers and planks, which are sewed together. The timbers are about 4 feet asunder, and on them, inside, some few planks are placed as bands and clamps, which are nailed to the frame. These are very rudely put together, and not of much importance either in form or construction. During the south-west monsoon, or from June to November, they are laid up at Baipur river for safety, and are only used in the fine-weather season. They carry the coin husk of the cocoanut, from which rope is made ; copra, the inside albumen of the nut, from which oil is expressed; eitjan, the leaf of the Corypha uinbraculifera tree, which is used for thatching houses, also for books, and various other purposes ; jagari sugar, made from the toddy or juice of the palm ; oil and arrack, a strong spirit, distilled from the toddy taken from the palm. These vessels keep along shore, and take advantage of the sail in rowing. They have generally from eight to ten men, who are fisher , men of the Moplah Muhanunadans, descendants of Arabian settlers on the shores of the Peninsula, and who, marrying the daughters of the country, obtained the name of Mapillai, or sons-in-law, corrupted by Europeans into the above term.
The Boatila manche, of the island of Ceylon, navigates the Gulf of Manaar and the coasts of the southern part of the Peninsula of India. This boat is about 50 to 60 feet in length, 16 to 18 feet in breadth, and S to 10 feet in depth, has more of the European form than any of the Indian-built vessels that are met with. The after part shows the construction to be of Portuguese origin, as it is very similar to that of many of the boats still in use by the people of that country, which are said to be of the same shape as the vessels in which Vasco da Gama sailed to India. They have a deck fore and aft, and are built with all sorts of jungle wood in a very rough manner, and fastened with nails and bolts. They arc equipped with one mast, which inclines for ward, and a square lug-sail ; also a small bow sprit, at about the angle of 45°, with a sort of jib foresail, one pair of shrouds, and a backstay, which completes the rigging. These vessels carry on the trade of the island across the gulf.
.3Iangalore munch, of the western coast of the Peninsula, is a flat-bottomed boat of burden, about 25 to 35 feet long, 6 to 7 feet broad, and 4 to 5 feet deep. It is formed to meet the river, which is very shallow and flat ; and to land the cargoes of the patamars, which are discharged and loaded at the mouth of the rivers. These boats are sewed together similar to the masula boat and other native vessels ; they are forced along by bamboo poles, as the water is not more than from 6 to 10 feet deep, except in the south-west monsoon, when the rapids swell, and the whole of the river is considered impassable ; and at this period all the vessels are taken to the shore and laid up.—Edge.