Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/117

 is the best way. A written agreement should be made, and not more than one-third paid in advance, the rest by instalments at different parts of the voyage. Those not experienced in boating ought to allow the boatmen to have all their own way; for though the stranger may be convinced of their doing many things wrong, yet he will be a loser in time and temper by attempting to introduce improvement. The most important thing to be attended to is the place of spending the night. They should always, if possible, be made fast in a creek, where shelter may be got in the event of a storm; for a boat made fast on a leashore, with a great extent of water to windward, especially if the wind be against the current, is sure to be swamped. The means in use for ascending the river are sailing and tracking. When the wind is fair and strong enough, sail is set, and thirty or forty miles are sometimes made good in one day. When there is no wind, the crew walk along the shore, and drag the boat on by a long rope made fast to the top of the mast. In this last way ten or twelve miles a day is good work. When neither sail nor tracking can be had recourse to, the boatmen take to their oars, or push along with bamboos at the rate of only one mile an hour.

To one not acquainted with the navigation of large rivers, a voyage up the Ganges in country