[1] It is traditionally made from wood or reeds coated in bitumen and held together with the help of iron nails.
[1] British explorer Wilfred Thesiger described them thus:[2] She was a beautiful craft that could carry as many as twelve people.
The front swept forwards and upwards in a perfect curve to form a long, thin, tapering stem; the stern too rose in a graceful sweep.
The top part of the ribs was planked along the inside and studded with five rows of flat, round nail-heads two inches across.
[3][4] Iron-plated taradas were used by British and Ottoman forces and their local allies during the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I.