The hire of a boatman was fixed at six gur of corn to be paid him
yearly, but it is clear that some of the larger vessels carried crews
commanded by a chief boatman, or captain, whose pay was probably on
a larger scale. If a man let his boat to a boatman, the latter was
responsible for losing or sinking it, and he had to replace it. A
boatman was also responsible for the safety of his vessel and of any
goods, such as corn, wool, oil, or dates, which he had been hired to
transport, and if they were sunk through his carelessness he had to make
good the loss. If he succeeded in refloating the boat after it had been
sunk, he was only under obligation to pay the owner half its value in
compensation for the damage it had sustained. In the case of a collision
between two vessels, if one was at anchor at the time, the owner of the
other vessel had to pay compensation for the boat that was sunk and its
cargo, the owner of the latter estimating on oath the value of what
had been sunk. Boats were also employed as ferries, and they must have
resembled the primitive form of ferry-boat in use at the present day,
which is heavily built of huge timbers, and employed for transporting
beasts as well as men across a river.
[Illustration: 297.jpg KAIKS, OR NATIVE BOATS ON THE EUPHRATES AT
BIREJIE.]
Employed for ferrying caravans across the river.
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