The “Pram” has retained, however, the slender bow and stern as also the characteristic line of the bends. (~Le Comte~, p. 23.) All of these vessels have the “draai-over-boord” often accompanied with a poop deck. Hence these “Pramen” are totally separated from the vessels of the “Semaque” (hoy) group met with in Friesland and Groningen. They have nothing to do with the _Groninger Aardappelpraam_ or with the _Groninger Slijkpraam_, or with the _Friesche Praam_ which belong to the “Hoy” group. The name of _Praam_ which is met with in Overijssel only at the end of the XVIIIth or beginning of the XIXth century is not purely Dutch. The Marquis ~de Tolin~ says, for example (p. 175), that Napoleon caused to be built for his Boulogne fleet a few “prams”, flat bottomed vessels, 37 m. long, 8 m. wide and drawing about 2.50 m. They were rigged with three masts and were armed with cannon. (~De Bonnefoux~ and ~Paris~; _Dictionnaire de Marine à Voiles_, anno 1847, p. 59.) Twenty “Prams” of this kind are said to have been built. They had nothing in common, however, with our “Pramen” unless it were that both vessels were flat bottomed. The Marquis ~de Tolin~ describes the Dutch “Praam” in his book (p. 144); but this description lacks precision, because the “Overijsselsche” and “Friesche Pramen” are grouped together. The “Friesche praam” (pram of Friesland) is merely a small hoy with rather slight sheer and provided with a “statie”; while the other is a flat bottomed vessel with “draai-over-boord” and never with a “statie”. ~Le Comte~ (p. 29) says that the first of these vessels were built only in the province of Drenthe, at Meppel and Hoogeveen, and he too groups the hoy with the “Friesche pram”. So he writes (p. 14), for example, that the “hoys” sometimes have movable washboards when they load above the gunwales, whereas this is especially characteristic of the “Friesche pramen”. Meanwhile, the Pram is often spoken of in Holland, although no vessel bearing that name, or one resembling the Overijsselsche Praam, is found there. This name is used then to designate vessels in general. The big “Overijsselsche Praam”, as it is known to-day, dates only from the second half of the XIXth century and its increase in size is due solely to the improvement of existing canals and to the opening to traffic of new navigable highways, nearly all dating from the same period. In this way, the “Drentsche Hoofdvaart” was only connected with Groningen by the construction of the Noord Willemsvaart in 1858-1862; (see _Gedenkboek Koninklijk Instituut van Ingenieurs_, p. 31). The Hoogeveensche vaart, dug in 1623 as an “Echtens nieuwe grift”, was only extended eastward and improved between 1850 and 1860 and the Meppelerdiep was improved only in 1860 and 1882.