Mr. Edmund Candler sent to the papers of Tuesday a
fascina- ting account of the heterogeneous collection of craft which have been pressed into the transport service on the Tigris. The paddle-steamers, which are the parent ships, are fed by the mahailas, with their sloping masts, huge rudders, lateen sails, cut-away prows, and Arab paintings—designs like the signs of the Zodiac. Then there are the canoes known as bellums- the gondolas of Basra—which are either punted or paddled according to the depth of water :— " Beyond question the boat of the most catholic ancestry at present en the Tigris is the Aerial,' half houseboat, half aeroplane. The hull is from Brahmapntra and it is fitted with an air propeller and a 60-horse-power semi-Diesel-type engine, and it makes more noise than a minor battle. It once plied as a shikar boat in Assam, but its owner and navigator had a happy inspiration, and this miracle of private improvisation is now the offinially recognized hospital ferry." Finally, there are the cauldron-like gufars of Baghdad, mentioned by Herodotus, which are made of reed baskets with wooden uprights plastered with pitch from the wells of Hitt.
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