The children of Madagascar / by Herbert F. Standing.

  • Herbert Standing
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The children of Madagascar / by Herbert F. Standing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/182 (page 14)
    palanquins, carried on the shoulders of strong maromita, or bearers, will be the only carriage we can avail ourselves of. a gentleman's palanquin. These palanquins, or filanjana, as the natives call them, are of two kinds. That used by gentlemen consists of two slender but tough wooden poles, nine or ten feet long and about fifteen inches apart, fastened together by a light iron frame-work, over which is stretched a comfortable seat of canvas or leather. The filanjana used by ladies is of a very different construction, consisting of a sort of shallow A lady's palanquin. oblong basket of strips of leather woven on a wooden frame, and fastened beneath two long poles made from the midrib of the im- mense leaves of the rofia-palm. For short distances the palanquin is carried on the shoulders of four men, who step along with a quick easy gait, changing the poles over from one shoulder to the other every two or three minutes. On long journeys eight bearers are employed, who relieve each other in relays of four every few minutes. (See picture on page 132.) You don't like the idea of being carried by men as though they