Forrai Ibolya szerk.: Néprajzi Közlemények 26. évfolyam (Budapest, 1983)

INTRODUCTION In the Néprajzi Közlemények 1982 (Ethnographical Communication 1982) we publish the manuscript "The Shipping on Wooden Ships in Hungary" (The Ethnography of the Boat-towing) by Imre Gráfik. The volume gives a historical and ethnographical, furthermore a technical-historical review about the past of the river navigation. The archaic-traditional trade shipping on the bigger hungarian rivers as the Danube, Tisza, Maros, the Körös rivers, Dráva, Száva, Francis-channel, and on some smaller, local rivers was significant even in the other half of the 19-th century. It could keep in competition with the newly started steamshipping even till the last third of the 19-th century. In it's définit loss of importance and dissapearing at all not the regular steamshipping played the main role, but the establishement of the railway line. In his volume the author first exposes the place and role of the shipping and transport on rivers within the hungarian culture of transportation in connection with the social-economic development, Following, he briefly introduces the usage of the shipping downstream ("ereszkedés"). Then he exposes in details the shipping practice upstream ("vontatás"). In this latter theme he specially discusses the shipping done by human power and by animal power. He particularly deals with the manner of life of the towers: introduces the social and cultural characteristics of this occupational stratum while giving a historical view about the