gyassa

plural gyassas · plural gyassi

1. A sail trading vessel of the upper Nile, with one mast and a very large lateen sail on a yard twice as long as the mast and as long as, or longer than, the vessel itself.

   Meanwhile the sunken gyassa was kept at the surface by the tackle fastened on to our mast.

   1899, Winston Churchill, Francis William Rhodes, The River War, page 242

   3 more examples

   What was worse, the gyassa , laden with stores and spare kits, belonging to an Egyptian battalion which was just about to start forward, was blown clean over, and everything shot into the river.

   1898, George Warrington Steevens, With Kitchener to Khartum, page 236

   The characteristic sailing craft of Bermuda, Norway, Denmark, Holland, and other European countries and waters are sketched and described, including the Venetian fishing-boats, with their richly colored sails; the rich dahabeahs and gyassi, with their graceful sails.

   1900 February 22, “Fitzgerald's Exploorations in the Andes”, in The Nation, volume 70, number 1808, page 152

   The most convenient way in most cases is to charter a special steamer from the Sudan Government, but those wishing to be quite independent can buy a nuggar or sailing gyassa which can sail up stream on the prevailing wind but must be towed back.

   1931, The South and East African Year Book & Guide, page 838