What is "kuphar"

A kuphar (kufa, kuffah, quffa, quffah, &c.) is a type of coracle or round boat traditionally used on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. They were described by Herodotus who visited Babylon around 450 BCE and observed them,

There were two major forms of construction used — hides stretched over a framework, as described by Herodotus, and woven bundles of reeds or basketry, waterproofed with bitumen. Boats of this sort were still used in modern times, being described by James Hornell in The Coracles of the Tigris and Euphrates (1938).

Professor Irving Finkel organised the construction of a large vessel of this kind, following his translation of a cuneiform tablet which contained an ancient flood narrative, which may have inspired the story of Noah's Ark.

Tennyson referenced the boats in his 1827 poem Persia,