steersman, and the redoubled exertions of his screaming crew, half
of whom back their oars, while the other half tug away in vain
endeavours to keep her head in the right direction.

I have endeavoured to describe the correct and safe method of riding
over the surf on the outer bar upon the back of the wave, a feat in
all conscience sufficiently ticklish; but woe betide the poor masullah
boat which shall be a little too far in advance of her proper place,
so that, when the wave curls over and breaks, she may be pitched head
foremost over the brink of the watery precipice, and strikes her nose
on the sandbank. Even then, if there happen, by good luck, to be depth
of water over the bar sufficient to float her, she may still escape;
but, should the sand be left bare, or nearly so, as happens sometimes,
the boat is almost sure to strike, if, instead of keeping on the back
or shoulder of the wave, she incautiously precedes it. In that unhappy
case she is instantly tumbled forwards, heels over head, while the
crew and passengers are sent sprawling amongst the foam.

Between the sharks and the catamaran men a race then takes place--the
one to save, the other to destroy--the very Brahmas and Shivas of the
surf! These accidents, however, are so very rare, that during all the
time I was in India I never witnessed one.

There is still a second surf to pass, which breaks on the inner bar,
about forty or fifty yards nearer to the shore. The boatmen try to
cross this, and to approach so near the beach, that, when the next
wave breaks, they shall be so far ahead of it that it may not dash
into the boat and swamp her, and yet not so far out as to prevent
their profiting by its impulse to drive them up the steep face of sand
forming the long-wished-for shore. The rapidity with which the
masullah boat is at last cast on the beach is sometimes quite fearful,
and the moment she thumps on the ground, as the wave recedes, most
startling. I have seen persons pitched completely off their seats, and
more than once I have myself been fairly turned over with all the
party, like a parcel of fish cast out of a basket! In general, no such
untoward events take place, and the boat at length rests on the sand,
with her stern to the sea. But as yet she is by no means far enough up
the beach to enable the passengers to get out with comfort or safety.
Before the next wave breaks, the bow and sides of the boat have been
seized by numbers of the natives