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Rh Mádárí Chaumukhí, below Chaital and Básrá. Thence the route proceeds by the Kultí Gáng, the Bhángar Canal, the Bidyádharí River, and the Kátá Khál, to Kántátalá Moháná. Here the boats bound for Kidderpur turn southward, and pass by the Tárdaha Gáng to Sámukpotá, and then into Tolly’s Canal. Those bound for BáliághátaBáliághátá [sic] pass by the Kántátalá, the Salt-Water Lake, or Báliághátá Canal, and thence into the Circular Road Canal to Calcutta. The new Canal from Ultádángá is only used for boats going from Calcutta.

.—The following brief description of the principal kinds of passenger and cargo boats met with on the rivers of the 24 Parganás is extracted from Major Smyth’s Geographical and Statistical Report:—(1) ‘The pinnace is chiefly used for the accommodation of Europeans. It has usually two masts and two cabins, and a crew of a serang and from twelve to sixteen men. (2) The bajrá(budgerow) is used also for Europeans as well as for rich natives. It has one mast and two cabins, is square-rigged, with a crew of a captain and from eight to sixteen men, flat-bottomed, and draws very little water. (3) The bháuliá (bhauleah) is a rowing boat, generally of four or six oars, and with one small cabin. (4) The mayúr pankhí (peacock-feathered) is a native pleasure boat. Its peculiarity consists in the canopy or state cabin being in the front of the vessel: it is usually propelled by means of hand paddles. (5) The patilá or káturá are boats from the westward. Their great breadth gives them a very little draught of water: they are used chiefly for cotton and light goods. (6) The ulakh has a sharp bow and a smooth rounded side, and is generally used for grain. Besides these, are to be found the Dacca palwár; the bhadrákuliá, or Sundarban wood-boat; the Magh boat from Chittagong; the Tamluk salt-boat; the Catwá pánsí, the Calcutta pánsí, and the Húglí pánsí; the Calcutta bhar or cargo-boat; the holá for coals; the dinghi or the ferry-boat; the fishing dinghi; the sálti and dongá—all varying in size, form, and construction, and applied to all purposes.’ The sálti is a narrow boat or ‘dug-out,’ cut from the trunk of the sál tree, and drawing about eight or nine inches when laden. It is from twenty to thirty feet long, one foot in breadth, and about the same in depth. The natives generally use it in poling from village to village.

The Collector reports that in the three years ending 1869-70, the average annual loss of life from drowning was 180 persons. This,