Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/41

 and the hospitality with which we were treated, left us nothing to desire, after the inconveniences of a voyage. When breakfast was finished, the party set out on a shooting excursion, taking for the accommodation of such as did not prefer walking, one horse, a complete Rozinante, and three palanquins, as they are here termed, but which in India would be called doolies. These vehicles are by no means so commodious for travelling as palanquins, from their allowing of one position only, and that not a very convenient one, the traveller being compelled to lie down at full length. They however compensate this defect in some measure, by being extremely light, so that, when rolled up, the whole of one vehicle may be easily carried by a single bearer. The poles are not formed of bamboo, but of an elastic wood, which grows in the country, and they are covered invariably with zebra-skin. The native bearers are very good, and for a short distance run as fast as the best in India, that is, at about the rate of five miles an hour. They are also particularly expert in changing their burthen from one shoulder to the other. If any one of the four be fatigued, he gives a signal to his companions, by tapping on the pole a certain number of times with his fingers, when one of those at the opposite end of the pole answers with a similar number, they then all give two taps in unison, and in an instant lift the doolie, still running on, from one shoulder to the other, without the slightest jolt being felt by the person whom they are carrying. This singular mode of communicating, as I afterwards found, is used for a variety of purposes, and the signals are distinguished by the manner, as well as by the number of the taps which are given. For about a mile from the house, the road ran through a continued plantation of cocoa-nut trees, interspersed with the huts of the inhabitants, as is commonly seen in India. The scene was indeed completely Oriental, and very much resembled the coasts of Ceylon, or some of the wilder parts of the Island of Bombay. On leaving the wood, the view opened on