40 T R A V E L S IN
pulwahs are a broad boat, and not fo fharp forward or. aft as
the other two. The Englifh gentlemen have made great improvements
on the bndgerow' in Bengal, by introducing a
broad flat floor, fquare ftems, and broad bows. .Thefe. boats
■ are mubh fafer, fail near'and keep their wind, and there is no
"danger attending their taking the ground; they are, befides',
•calculated for canying a greater quantity of fail. Another
boat of this country, which is very curioufly conftrudted, is
Called a Moqr-punky: thbfe are very long and narrow, fome-
times extending to upwards of an hundred feet in length, and
not more than eight fact in breadth; they are always paddled,
’.fbmetimes by forty men, and are fleered by a large' paddle
from the ftera, which rifes either in the fhape of a peacock?
a fnake, or fome other animal. The perfons employed to
paddle are directed by a man who ftands up, and fometimes
he makes ufe of a branch of a plant to diredt their motions.
In one part of the ftem is a canopy fupported by pillars, in
which are feated the owner and his friends, who partake together
of the refrelhing breezes of the evening. Thefe boats
are very expenfive, owing to the beautiful decorations of painted
and gilt ornaments, which are highly vamifhed, and exhibit
a very donfiderable degree of tafte. It was curious to
me to obferve the perfect fimilarity in manners between the
inhabitants of this country and the people of Otaheite in thefe
water excurfions. The pleafure boats o f the South-fea iflanders
are, in many inftances, fimilar to thefe: working in an ocean,
they found the neceffity of applying an out-rigger, or of lalh-
I N D I A. 4 i
ing tw o veflels together* #0^, prevent tdverfetting; Like the
bQats I am fpeaking of, they are-worked by paddles, and are
alfo djredled by a man holding a branch, who,- • in common
with the perfon in’ the Moor-punky^ufes' much gefticuIatioUi
and tells his, ftory tp^exeite either laughter or exertion. My
former paflage down the river to;’Calcutta was. too rapid to
allow of,more■ obfervation■ than 'what(related Wthe-general
appearance qf- t-he villages and towns'bn its bank’s; The*
ftream is ufually calculated totiipn at the rate qf five.miles an
hour; buttle rapidity o f the flood, during-;the fainy feafon,.
is increafcd, and round fqme of 1 the points in the river it is
very great;. , Should it be cakn^weather when, the flood is thus
impetuous,, the, boatmen epdure much fatigue,ins .towing round
thefe pojnts^againfl the ftream, and particularly fo where the
-banks;are, very high i and fome ,ofi them, ,in the great river,-
are equal fo the top of tlte maft ,p£ a common budgerow.
At .a fmall diftance aboye Calcutta is the Danifh fettle-
ment o f . Serampoor, where there is a neat town, which carries
on a confiderable trade. Both ,fides-'of the river are decorated
with a few houfes. .belonging . to Englifh gentlemen:
at Ghiretty, twenty miles from Calcutta,:? is! a very-fine feat,
which, in the year 1781, was inhabited by the’ family of the
late Sir Eyre Coote, who at that time was fighting the battlfes
of hisicountry on the plains?of the. Carnatic j where his health
and life fell a facrifice, to his great exertions. With an army
of never more than feven thoufand effective men, this expe