ABSTRACT
This class of boatmen160 properly belongs to Maldah and Tirhut, but a few families have been long settled in Dacca, and being a small colony wives are with difficulty procured.
The Surahiyá are enterprising and hardy sailors, often met with in Eastern Bengal during the cold season, in large trading vessels laden with grain, pulse, or fuller’s earth, which is sold to Mahájans, and a cargo of rice shipped for the return voyage. In Gházípúr the Surahiyás are cultivators, who readily engage themselves as boatmen. They are very muscular and large boned, offering a striking contrast to the average Bengalí ‘Mánjhís’.
