balsa

…Peru, Ireland, and Mesopotamia: the balsa (boats) of Lake Titicaca, made of reeds and sometimes fitted out with a sail also made of matting; the British coracle, the basketry framework of which is covered with a skin sewn onto the edge; and the gufa of the Tigris, which is round…

…lake dwellers make their famed balsas—boats fashioned of bundles of dried reeds lashed together that resemble the crescent-shaped papyrus craft pictured on ancient Egyptian monuments.