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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

this circumstance arose another disadvantage, which consisted in the great diffi-culty of keeping the same course, considering the diminutiveness of the rudder,and the elasticity of the ropes to which it was fastened *.

“ The

* Osbeck gives the following short account of the inferior Chinese vessels, which cannot fail toprove interesting, because it briefly explains the form and principles of their construction, and alsothe peculiar employments and dimensions of the different vessels :

Sampan is a Chinese boat, without a keel, looking almost like a trough; they are made of differ-ent dimensions, but are mostly covered. There are passenger sampans, to carry people backward andforward between the town and ships. These you may hire every day, and you may either takelarger ones, tow eytin, or lesser ones, suutin. They are quicker than you would expect, providedyou take advantage of the ebb or flood. These boats are as long as sloops, but broader, almost likea baking trough, and have, at the end, one or more decks made of bamboo-sticks ; the cover, or roof,is also made of bamboo-sticks, arched over in the shape of a grater, and may be raised or lowered atpleasure ; the sides are made of boards, with little holes, and shutters instead of windows ; the boardsare fastened on both sides to posts, which have notches like steps on the inside, that the roof may belet down, andrest on them ; on both ends of the deck are commonly two little doors, at least there isone at the stern. A fine white smooth carpet, spread up as far as the boards, makes the floor, which illthe middle consists of loose boards; but this carpet is only made use of to sleep on. As these boatsdiffer from those of Europeans in shape, they are likewise rowed m a different manner, for two rowers,posting themselves at the back end of the sampan, work it forward very readily by the motion of twooars, and can almost turn the vessel just as they please ; the oars, which are covered with a little hollowquadrangular iron, are laid on iron swivels, which are fastened in the side of the sampan. At the ironthe oars are pieced, which makes them look a little bent. In common, a rower sits before with ashort oar, but this he is forced to lay aside when he comes near the city, on account of the greatthrong of sampans; and this inconvenience has confirmed the Chinese in their old way of rowing.Instead of pitch they make use of a cement like putty, which Europeans call chinan, but theChinese kiang. Some authors say, that this cement is made of lime, and a rezin exsuding from thetree tong yea, with bamboo ockam.

The sampan, on board which Mr. Osbeck embarked, had, besides a couple of chairs, the followingfurniture, two oblong tables or boards, on which some Chinese characters were drawn, a lanthorn forthe night-time, and a pot to boil rice in. They have also a little cover tor their household god, deco-rated with gilt paper and other ornaments; before him stood a pot, filled with ashes, into which thetapers were put before the idol. The candles were nothing else than bamboo-chips, to the upper end ofwhich sawdust of sandal wood was stuck on with gum. These tapers are every where lighted beforethe idols in the pagodas, and before the doors in the streets, and in so large a city occasion a smokevery pernicious to the eyes. Before this idol stood some samso, or Chinese brandy, water, &c. Euro-peans ought to try whether the Chinese would not like to use juniper wood instead of sandal wood,which latter comes from Surat, and has almost the same smell with juniper. Fishermen’s sampansare the smallest of all, narrow like some European fishing boats, and have either a very small deck ofstraw, cr bamboo, or are even without that poor convenience. Bad as these boats are, yet parents,and their naked children, are seen to get their livelihood in them, both summer and winter, by fishing,

and