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Strange craft

I enjoyed Roger Canfield’s story on Macau in the February ’06 issue, but I should point something out. On page 40, he mentions seeing in a museum a boat used by Vietnamese people escaping the Communists. This particular boat was not “converted” from a basket but is of a type still in use today in a few areas of Viet-Nam.

In November and December ’04 I took a 23-day customized tour of Viet-Nam with Journeys International (Ann Arbor, MI; 800/255-8735) and saw these round boats in use.

What I found interesting about them is that the Mandan Indians who lived along the Missouri River used an almost identical round boat, the only tribe in North America to do so. The Lewis and Clark expedition spent a winter with this tribe.

RICHARD BUCHHOLZ
Kiel, WI

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