Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/219

Rh sewn together to give elasticity, and the interstices stuffed with straw, came out for us, with a guard of honour of the mosquito fleet, as the catamarans are called, on either side of them; two of the fool's cap men, and a flag as big as the boat itself, on each one." The present day masūla or mussoola boat, or surf boat of the Coromandel Coast, is of the same build as several centuries ago. It is recorded,* in 1673, that "I went ashore in a Mussoola, a boat wherein ten men paddle, the two aftermost of whom are the Steers-men, using their Paddles instead of a Rudder: The Boat is not strengthened with knee-timber, as ours are; the bended Planks are sowed together with Rope-yarn of the Cocoe, and calked with Dammar so artificially that it yields to every ambitious surf. Otherwise we could not get ashore, the Bar knocking in pieces all that are inflexible." The old records of Madras contain repeated references to Europeans being drowned from overturning of masula boats in the surf, through which a landing had to be effected before the harbour was built.

In 1907, two Madras fishermen were invested with silver wrist bangles, bearing a suitable inscription, which were awarded by the Government in recognition of their bravery in saving the lives of a number of boatmen during a squall in the harbour.

The following are the fishes, which are caught by the fishermen off Madras and eaten by Europeans: —


 * Cybium guttatum, BL Schn. Seir.
 * Cybium Commersonii, Lacep. Seir.
 * Cybium lanceolatum, Cuv. & Val. Seir.
 * Sillago sihama, Forsk. Whiting.