Thomas Justice, age 11, of Concord, N.H., for his question:

HOW LARGE IS AN ORIENTAL JUNK?

Junk is the name of a wooden sailing vessel that has a high poop deck. It is used in the Far East for fishing and river transportation and sometimes as living quarters in some of the Oriental countries.

Larger, more seaworthy junks have a length of 70 feet and a displacement of up to 100 tons. They are used primarily in the coastal waters. Some junks are smaller and they are usually found only in harbor areas.

The junk's prow, or bluff bow, is broad and flat rather than pionted and the bottom is either flat or small keeled with a low rudder. Junks have a deck and high masts, most commonly three, with four cornered, coarse cotton sails, called lugsails, braced flat by bamboo stripe or battens.

Junks are used mainly by the Chinese, Japanese anti Javanese.