volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

86
M6suL TO Baghdad by Raft.
Merchants who have baggage to transport, and
travellers who dislike travelling by land, frequently
make use of the kalak,^ ,_j3^, or raft, when making
a journey from Dia,r Bakr or Jazirat ibn 'Omar to
Mosul or Baghdad. The kalak is made of poles and
planks of wood and inflated goat-skins, and is practically
unsinkable ; it varies in size from lo feet to 50 feet
square, and the number of goat-skins used for one raft
varies from 50 to 1000. Small parties of natives with
little baggage often make a journey on a raft 10 feet
square. The merchant's raft that is required to carry
goods of various kinds measures 30 feet by 20 feet, and
the rafts which carry grain down the Zab and Tigris to
Baghd§,d are often 40 feet square and more. The frame
of the raft is made of poles, the ends of which are lashed
together with ropes or bark, and this is strengthened by
cross-poles fastened to the frame with strong cords.
Underneath the frame and the cross-poles series of goatskins^
are tied, the number of skins varying with
the size of the raft. A moderate-sized raft requires
about 200 skins and an exceptionally large one 700 to
1,000, according to the nature of the load. The raftsman
inflates the skins by blowing into them with a reed
tube, and when full of air each skin is tied round the
neck with a stout cord ;
and during the inflation water is
poured over it frequently to prevent leakage through
drying of the skin. When the raft reaches its destination
it is pulled to pieces and the poles and planks are
sold, but the skins are deflated, dried, and carefully tied
up in bundles to be carried on the backs of donkeys
^ In Mdsul often pronounced tcheletch.
^ These skins are removed from the bodies of the animals with
special care, and the natural openings in the skin have strong leather
patches sewn over them.