The Outrigger-Nuggar of the Blue Nile (plates i-ii)

THE OUTRIGGER-NUGGAR OF THE BLUE NILE (PLATES 1-11) One of the least known of the many curious river-craft encountered in Africa is the outrigger-nuggar (naggr) of the Blue Nile, trading mainly between Wad Medani and Omdurman. The cargo generally carried is cut timber for the use of the river steamers and contractors. It is a strange looking craft, flat-bottomed and shallow in draft as befits a boat plying upon a river carrying little water when its Abyssinian tributaries are running low. To compensate in area for this deficiency in depth, the beam is extraordinarily great in comparison with the length, which is less than twice the maximum beam. The saucershaped hull lies low in the water with but six to eight inches of freeboard when fully laden. Like all Nilotic cargo vessels the bows are bluff and munded, but unlike them there is scarcely any sheer in this region. Save for this insignificant rise, the gunwale is horizontal throughout its length. The stern is truncate, filled in, transom fashion, with cross planking nailed within the ends of the side strakes and against the outer face of the stern-post, here fitted on the inner side of the shell. A stem-post is present as well as a stout keel almost flush with the exterior surface of the garboard strakes. The rudder, as is usual in boats navigating on inland waters, is of great size and power ; instead of being slung by gudgeon and pintle as in other Nilotic craft, its head is held in position by stout lashings led inboard around the top of the stern-post ; below, the heel of the rudder-post appears to rest on the projecting end of the keel. The tiller has its own individuality ; instead of the straight bar sloping upward to the hands of the standing steersman, as seen in the gyassa and Nubian nuggar, it lies in a horizontal plane save for an arched curve to allow it to clear the projecting head of the stern-post and the bulky rudder lashings. The rigidity of the hull depends entirely upon the thickness and strength of the skin planking, the thoroughness with which the components are combined into a selfsupporting whole, and upon the presence of three stout deck beams, tying together the two sides. The master beam is placed at mid-length, with the others near to the stem and the stern to function respectively as supports for short fore and after decks. The space between the decks is open, with the after part roofed with reed matting on a rudely made arched framework, for the protection of passengers and perishable cargo. The exterior of the hull is left naked ; neither paint, tar nor oil is ever applied. As these boats depend mainly upon their sweeps when going Neither frames nor ribs are present.