DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4651#0033
IN THE BURMHAN EMPIRE.
23
ing in a small canoe half-full of water, but afloat.
I am told they use it in a state of solution, never
consolidating it by inspissation and pressing;
therefore, what I saw I fancy amounts to nearly
the whole of the labour bestowed on it.
December 14. We were considerably detained
to-day by the boat, containing the king's carriage,
and by the merchant-boats in company with us.
The boatmen, although stronger and more active
when they choose to exert themselves, are not to
be compared with the Bengal dandies*, they have
no idea of tracking, their principal forte lying in
poling with bamboos, fourteen feet long. All the
boats of burden have outriggers, and a platform of
bamboos fore and aft clear of the body of the
boat, for the crew to walk along in poling. The
main banks for the most part are a mile distant
from each other, with houses scattered along them.
Culture does not seem to be carried on upon an
extensive plan, but in spots and patches according
to the exigencies of the natives. Wherever I have
landed, they have appeared to me as well lodged,
clothed, and fed, as the peasantry of any other
part of India I have seen. Every family plant
their own indigo, cotton, and paddy; and the
women spin, manufacture, and dye, all the cloth
necessary for their own consumption, while the
men attend the labours of the field; and consi-
* Boatmen.
23
ing in a small canoe half-full of water, but afloat.
I am told they use it in a state of solution, never
consolidating it by inspissation and pressing;
therefore, what I saw I fancy amounts to nearly
the whole of the labour bestowed on it.
December 14. We were considerably detained
to-day by the boat, containing the king's carriage,
and by the merchant-boats in company with us.
The boatmen, although stronger and more active
when they choose to exert themselves, are not to
be compared with the Bengal dandies*, they have
no idea of tracking, their principal forte lying in
poling with bamboos, fourteen feet long. All the
boats of burden have outriggers, and a platform of
bamboos fore and aft clear of the body of the
boat, for the crew to walk along in poling. The
main banks for the most part are a mile distant
from each other, with houses scattered along them.
Culture does not seem to be carried on upon an
extensive plan, but in spots and patches according
to the exigencies of the natives. Wherever I have
landed, they have appeared to me as well lodged,
clothed, and fed, as the peasantry of any other
part of India I have seen. Every family plant
their own indigo, cotton, and paddy; and the
women spin, manufacture, and dye, all the cloth
necessary for their own consumption, while the
men attend the labours of the field; and consi-
* Boatmen.