Definition of "lancha" [lancha]

• A launch or barge: a medium-sized boat used in the Philippine Islands for the transportation of merchandise and native products. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "A lancha was a small vessel having no deck and but one mast, and propelled by sweeps."
• "Early in the morning we embarked in a sort of narrow canoe, called a lancha, in hopes of crossing the gulf of Cariaco during the day."
• "Anxious to reach Cumana, in order to avail ourselves of the first opportunity that might offer for our passage to Vera Cruz, we hired an open boat called a lancha, a sort of craft employed habitually in the latitudes east of Cape Codera where the sea is scarcely ever rough."