Jan. 10. 1851.
[Footnote 1: Thoresby's _History of Leeds_.]
_Crossing Rivers on Skins_ (Vol. iii., p. 3.).--Mr. C. M. G., a near
relative of mine, who lately returned from naval service on the Indus, told
me, last year, that he had often seen there naked natives employed in
fishing. The man, with his fishing-tackle, launches himself on the water,
sustained by a large hollow earthen vessel having a round protuberant
opening on one side. To this opening the fisherman applies his abdomen, so
as to close the vessel against the influx of water; and clinging to this
air-filled buoy, floats about quite unconcernedly, and plies his
fishing-tackle with great success. The analogy between this Oriental buoy
and the inflated skins mentioned by Layard and by your correspondent JANUS
DOUSA, is sufficiently remarkable to deserve a note.