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BIRMAH. 143
constructed on a commodious plan, and are well
adapted to make their course against the stream. A boat sixty feet in
powerful
length measures not
more than twelve feet across in the widest part. But
the consequence of their being thus long and narrow
is, that they not only require a great deal of ballast,
but would be in constant danger of oversetting, were
they not provided with outriggers, consisting of thin
boards, or buoyant bamboos, which compose a platform
extending horizontally six or seven feet on the
outside of the boat from stem to stern; so that the
vessel can incline no further than until the platform
touches the edge of the water, when she immediately
rights. Upon this platform the boatmen ply their oars,
or impel the vessel forward by poles.* Here the crew
sleep by night, and lire by day ; protecting themselves
from the weather by putting up mats, or spreading a
sail from the roof of the boat to the outside edge.
sort of cabin is constructed by taking away one thwart
beam near the stern, laying a floor two feet below the
gunwale, and raising an arched roof about seven feet
above the floor; a commodious room is thus formed,
14 feet in length and 10 feet in width, together with a
small closet. At the stern is a stage, on which the
leedegee or steersman takes his stand. A vacant space
is left of about seven feet, where a kettle may be boiled
and dinner cooked. On each side of the cabin, a door
opens on the platform, and there are windows which
admit of a free circulation of air. The roof is made
of bamboos covered with mats, and over all is extended
a piece of canvass that effectually secures it from the
heaviest rain. The inside is neatly lined with matting.
* In the same manner the roof of the champans, or flat-bottomed
boats used on the Magdalena, serve as a deck for the boat-
men, on which they stand to push along the boat with their poles.
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