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BURMESE BOATS.


The Burman war-boat is formed of the trunk of the magnificent teak tree,
first roughly shaped, and then expanded by means of fire, until it attains
sufficient width to admit two people, sitting abreast. On this a gunwale,
rising a foot above the water, is fixed, and the stem and stern taper to a
point, the latter being much higher than the other, and ornamented with
fret-work and gilding. On the bow is placed a gun, sometimes of a
nine-pounder calibre, but generally smaller, and the centre of the boat is
occupied by the rowers, varying in number from twenty to a hundred, who in
the large boats use the oar, and in the small ones the paddle. A war-boat
in motion is a very pleasing object. The rapidity with which it moves, its
lightness, and small surface above the water, the uniform pulling of the
oar falling in cadence with the songs of the boatmen, who, taking the lead
from one of their number, join in chorus, and keep time with the dip of
their oars; the rich gilding which adorns the boat, and the neat, uniform
dress of the crew, place it, to the eye of a stranger, in a curious and
interesting point of view: and in regard to appearance, induces him, when
contrasting it with an English boat, to give the former the preference. In
point of swiftness, our best men-of-war boats could not compete with them;
and of this superiority they generally availed themselves when an action
was impending.

The boats we had captured at Rangoon, and were cutting down for the
transport of the army, were totally of a different nature. These, built on
the same plan as ours are, but with flat bottoms, belonged to traders, and