Part 2: Alleppey -ferry ride to Kottayam

Sapir’s journey from Cochin to Alleppey:

“So we hired a raft with two boatmen steering it, to go on the great river Mangatah which swells and passes in front of Cochin.

And we passed onward in this way for a night and a day and a night, to the delight of our souls because we were passing through a land which is like the Garden of Eden, fruitful and verdant, with gardens and orchards on this side and that.”

“And all year long the fruit does not fail and the plain is green with vegetation and lovely to the sight, and all day could be heard the joyful shouting of people and animals within the gardens and orchards where their homes are, in summer and in winter.

Many times we went up onto the fields to buy fruits, drink, and the live fish which were roasted on a fire which they lit on the field.”

Cochin

Alipee

map of the backwatersbetween Cochin and Alleppey, by C. R. Markham, in 1867

Sapir’s Routefrom Cochinto Alleppey

Our ferry ride from Alleppeyto Kottayam (Oct. 4)through backwater canals

Junction: Kottayam 28 KM, Allapuzha 0.2 KM,Kollam 84 KM

Views from the ferry

Sapir on the leaves of coconut trees: “its leaf does not wither, and they take it for writing in place of paper, and for the covering of tents and lodges (m’lunot), booths (sukkot), and huts (tz’rifim)”