Page:Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc (IA smallboatsailing01knig).pdf/302

 each night, so that he could enjoy his eight hours' slumber. As at this season the north wind generally blows hard throughout the day to impede a boat's drifting, whereas at night it is calm, we compelled the old man to continue his navigation throughout a great portion of the night, except when we were on dangerous portions of the river.

The men seldom use their oars on these larger gayassas, and guide the clumsy flat-bottomed craft down-stream after the following fashion. If the north breeze blows hard against the current, the head of the vessel is turned up-stream, and as the empty boat draws little water, and her high prow exposes a large surface to hold the wind, good steerage-way is gained, which enables the reis to keep her in the strength of the current and to avoid dangers. The result is that one is often travelling through the water at quite two knots in the direction opposite to that in which one is bound, though at the same time the favouring stream running four knots under the vessel enables one to make progress northward at the rate of two knots an hour. Sometimes, again, when the wind was light, and he required more steerage-way in order to dodge the shallows and rocks, over which the river rushed with an ominous roar, the reis hoisted his foresail, or, if necessary, both his sails. Occasionally, too, he tacked backwards and forwards across the river; and it was then, I think, that our progress was slowest, for the leeway made by that gayassa was