Although India has to her credit some of the finest dhows ever built she also sends to sea what must surely be the most poverty stricken. Of these the padao is perhaps the best, or more convincingly the worst example. At first sight one gains the impression that it must be constructed entirely of split bamboo and palm matting, particularly if the vessel is fully laden. A close look, however, reveals a wooden hull but with planked bulwarks only at the bows and toward the stern and even these short lengths of bulwark are invariably almost completely hidden by the bamboo and split palm screens which protect the cargo from sea water that might otherwise splash aboard. Sometimes the cargo is further protected by plastering the inside of the screens with mud. I did see in Bombay a padao with the mud plastered on the outside. The transom is the only large exposed area of the padao's hull and this is often decorated with delicate painted foliation. If the padao is really worthy of its name there is a carved representation of a parrot's head at the top of the stem. It is somewhat akin to the oculus of a kotia except that the head faces forward instead of aft. It is flanked on each side with sheaves through which mooring lines pass. These sheaves are encased in wood and even if the appendages were never intended as such they do have the appearance of a pair of wings.It is astonishing how the undecked padao manages to make its way to distant Dubai where, as already related, it takes part in the smuggling of highly profitable uncustomed goods into India. The padao, though, is essentially a coasting vessel of the north-west. At Bombay's Mahim Bay they tie up stern to shore to discharge gravel which the city's build¬ing industry consumes in great quantities.
State of Qatar 1976;80d;SG 594
Sourse: Source : A Dictionary of the world’s Watercraft from Aak to Zumbra.
C.Hawkins:The Dhow