for the masts, and another in the bows, steeving up, for
the bowsprit, and another astern for a boomkin or outrigger, and then
you have before you the boat in question." These boats carry a lateen
sail, sail very fast, and are much used on the waters of the Tagus as
fishing-boats and trawlers.

Other curious craft to be met with in Europe are the scamparia and
felucca of the Mediterranean, the Greek mystico and the trabacalo of the
Adriatic. The gondola, than which, perhaps, nothing that floats on the
waters is suggestive of more romantic and poetical associations, is so
familiar to everybody from pictures, and has so often been introduced
into story, song, and narratives of travel, that we shall not pause to
describe it.

Passing from Europe to Africa, we note among the craft peculiar to that
country the diabiah or Nile boat, a very comfortable travelling boat for
warm climates. It is a large boat, and contains a house at one end, in
which the passengers sleep at night, or take refuge from the sun's
fierce heat by day.

In Asia a great variety of vessels and boats of various shapes and sizes
are met with, to describe all of which would carry us far beyond the
space at our disposal. The dhow of the Arabs runs from sixty to a
hundred tons, is almost entirely open, and has a sharp pointed bow,
projecting for a considerable distance beyond the hull. On the high,
broad stern a covered-in poop is placed, containing the quarters of the
captain and passengers. The stern is usually ornamented with carving,
as English vessels used to be in old days. The dhow carries but one
sail, lateen-shaped, and the mast stoops forward at a sharp angle.
These craft have not unfrequently been engaged in the nefarious slave
traffic carried on on the east coast of Africa.

The catamaran of Madras can only be called a boat on the _lucus a non
lucendo_ principle, for it consists simply of three logs placed side by
side, pointed at the bows, and kept together by two cross-pieces. Yet
this rude raft does good service in its way, being the only means of
communication in rough weather between vessels lying off Madras and the
shore; for there are no wharves at Madras, and ships are compelled to
anchor in the offing. When the sea runs so high that boats of the
ordinary kind are useless, the services of the catamarans are gladly
enough made use of.

The native boatmen, seated on their log rafts, and quite naked, make
their way through the