Boats and ships

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other pictures from the same area may be seen on the page Culture: Folk art around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reed boats were common in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, on Lake Tana in Ethiopia, and Lake Titicaca in South America, and probably also on Easter Island. They are still used by the Uru people on Lake Titicaca and on Lake Tana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canoes, made from birch bark or animal hides, tied to a light wooden frame, were used at a very early stage in the Americas and in the Arctic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other pictures, depicting Batak people, may be seen on several other pages on this website, including People: Children around the world, Culture: Musicians, and Portraits.

 

 

 

 

 

In Vietnam, a type of coracle, called thung chai, evolved during the French colonial era. It seems that when the French had colonized Vietnam, they began levying heavy taxes left and right, including a tax on the ownership of boats.

Most Vietnamese fishermen, who depended on boats for their livelihood, could not afford to pay the taxes, so they invented a new type of circular boat, the thung chai, arguing that they were not boats at all, but baskets, and therefore shouldn’t be taxed. It seems that they succeded in their endeavour, and ever since then these vessels have been a common sight in central Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, much larger sailboats were developed for cargo, and, following the invention of the diesel engine, the cargo ships became larger and larger, culminating in the huge supertankers, which can transport hundreds of containers.

 

The carving in the bottom picture, near the stern of the Oseberg Ship, depicts the Midgard Serpent, or Jormungand, a giant, which had assumed the form of an enormous monster. The gods tried to drown it by throwing it into the cosmic sea, but it merely wound itself around the entire Midgard (abode of humans), biting its own tail. A völva (a prophetess) had foretold that at Ragnarok, when the world comes to an end, Thor will fight a final battle with the Midgard Serpent, which he succeeds in killing, but he himself will succumb to the monster’s poison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Varanasi, situated on the shores of the Ganges, is the most sacred of India’s seven sacred cities. It is estimated that at any time about half a million pilgrims visit this city. Many old or ill people travel here to die and be cremated on the banks of the Ganges, their ashes afterwards being strewn in its waters.

The following 3 pictures are all from Varanasi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These dragons began spitting out jewels and jade, which turned into thousands of islands and islets in a bay in the northern part of the country, forming a formidable line of defense against the invaders. By magic, numerous rocks abruptly appeared in the sea, just ahead of the front line of the invaders’ ships, which struck the rocks, whereas the ships behind them had no time to stop and thus hit the wrecked ships of the front line.

In this way, the dragons saved the young Vietnamese nation, and for this reason, the bay was named Ha Long, meaning ‘descending dragons’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This wetland is locally called kuttanad, but among tourists it is known as the backwaters. In the 1800s, it covered around 1,000 km², but draining has reduced this area to c. 350 km².

Ferries and tourist boats ply these waters between various towns, and a boat trip provides an insight into the daily rural life in Kerala. The lakes of this wetland are connected by channels and canals, along which stretches low banks with long rows of waving coconut palms (Cocos nucifera), and an abundance of homes, from magnificent villas to huts made of palm leaves. People wash clothes or children, tend rice fields, paddle canoes, laden with fodder for cattle, or walk along paths along the channels, carrying loads on their head.

Great longboats, called kettu vallam, laden with goods or fodder, are driven forward by men, using bamboo poles, or by sail.

The coconut palm is a very important plant in this area of India. Oil and copra (dried coconuts) are utilized in cooking and for lamps, whereas the leaves are woven into mats, used as walls and roofs in houses. The fibres surrounding the nut are woven into rope and mats, and the nutshells are burned to make charcoal. Wood from the trunk is utilized as timber or firewood.

In larger lakes and marshes, long lines of fishing nets are erected. They are also used at night, with lamps to lure the fish. Various birds are perched on the net poles, including great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo ssp. sinensis), white-headed brahminy kites (Haliastur indus), herons, and kingfishers.

In places, the surface is covered in floating leaves of water lilies (Nymphaea), together with two naturalized species, the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), which has pretty, blue flowers, and a small fern, Salvinia. These two species spread uncontrollably, and sometimes they block the flow of water in the channels. They also block the passage of light into the deeper water, expelling animal life there.

Other threats to flora and fauna of the area include overfishing, pollution caused by chemical fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural usage, and draining. In former times, huge areas of mangroves were found in these wetlands, but the major part have vanished.

The great cormorant is presented on the page Fishing, whereas the water hyacinth is described on the page Nature: Invasive species. A picture of brahminy kite may be seen on the page Travel episodes – Sri Lanka 1982-83: The elephant charmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In former times, the burning boat was pushed out to sea, ceremonially carrying the diseases away, but this practice has now been abandoned, and the boat is burned on land.

Daoism is presented in depth on the page Religion: Daoism in Taiwan.