[Sidenote: III 178] [Sidenote: III 181] It is needless to say that not only pontoons, but also every kind of boats, such as the “hoys” and “poonen” already mentioned, can be also utilized for crossing. [Sidenote: III 60] [Sidenote: III 65] [Sidenote: III 67] Use is also frequently made of the “Hengsten” (anglice: stallions, used here to designate strength) and of the “Veerhengsten” which belong to the type of the “Hoogaarsen”, which they resemble greatly. The “Hoorgaarsen” are described among the fishing boats. For ferrying pedestrians, rowboats and “vletten” are very frequently used. One remark may still be added to what precedes: Two cables are needed for tidal rivers, one above and one below, so as to be able to work during both the ebb and flood tides. The manœuvres then become difficult at times, because when the tide is at a stand there is no current or it is so weak that the crossing is not always possible. In these cases the cables are used merely as guides for the boats. The latter are run across by hand or by a motor which works a special cable for crossing. A system of this sort is located on the Bergsche Meuse, below Heusden. If the current becomes too strong at high water, so that there is danger of breaking the cables, the pontoon way be attached to a swinging cable which would then take up the greater part of the tension. This cable should be very long: 1ᵒ so that the pull on the anchor way be as nearly horizontal as possible and 2ᵒ so that the arc described by the ferry boat may be as flat as possible. The small inland boats are not less important than those just considered. Their size has gone on increasing as the navigable highways are improved and the clinker-built hulls give way to the carvel built. They differ, in the matter of form, from the types mentioned above, by their relatively small beam as compared with their length, as much as by their very much inclined bow and stern. If, as a general rule, the ratio between length and breadth which lay generally between 3.5 and 4.6 now reaches often 5 for the inland boats. Evidently, they are all flat-bottomed and, of late years, they have been built with a more rounded bilge. THE BOK. [Sidenote: III 83] [Sidenote: III 84] The _Bok_ is one of the largest vessels of this group. It is met with in Friesland, in the North-West of the province of Utrecht, below Ankeveen and ’s Graveland, and in the North-East of South Holland to the North of the Old Rhine. It is a long, narrow boat, 16 metres long, only 3.35 m. beam and 1.75 m. depth. It narrows sharply toward the bottom and has a very strong sternpost and stem. The sternpost is straight and leaning; the stern also slopes and is slightly curved. The bow of the boat is square which gives it a characteristic appearance. THE SNIK. [Sidenote: II 240] [Sidenote: III 85] Along with the “Bok” there is found in Friesland, the _Snik_, which is a “Bok” of less square build with a more sloping sternpost and stem.