3-047-087 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Native travelling in India, 1872. 'In those districts of India to which the European railway system has not yet been applied there are several different ways of travelling;...the dak palki, or palanquin, carried on the shoulders of four bearers, who are relieved at stages of eight or ten miles, is one of the easiest modes of conveyance...The dak is very much like the closed litter which used to be employed, before wheeled carriages mounted on springs..., for ladies and invalids to travel in England, but...instead of being suspended, as the old-fashioned English litter was, to a pair of long shafts, between which two horses were harnessed, the Indian palanquin is carried by two men in front and two men in the rear...It is exactly like a common boy's swing, but hung from two horizontal poles, which the bearers carry, so that it ought not to jolt much; and the person who sits or squats upon its board may lean his back against the ropes on either side. There is nothing but the custom of his nation to prevent his letting his legs dangle freely, as a European would prefer, instead of doubling them under his body; and though he has no protection from the sun, his position here is more airy, at least, than it would be in a closed palanquin'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.