Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/191

 umbrella, from the sun. A young fellow of humour, on this last order coming out, altered the form of his umbrella from a round to a square, called it a squaredel instead of a roundel and insisted, that no order yet in force forbade him the use of it."

However grand and luxurious its outward appearance, the palanquin had many drawbacks: To get into it, it was necessary to enter backwards—a feat which men performed standing, the bearers lowering the poles from the shoulder to the fore-arm. As ladies' skirts forbade such a display of athletics on their part, the palanquin would be placed on the ground, from which it was raised some three or four inches by the legs on which it stood. The intending occupant would sit into it, and then gather up her skirts and feet, and turn inwards—a process sadly detrimental, one would think, to a fashionable toilette, and a performance in which it must have been difficult, for even the young and slender, to display either grace or dignity.

At a later period palanquins, or palkees, as they came to be called, were closed in with a roof and sides, with sliding-panel doors in place of the awning and draperies. They were upholstered like carriages, and painted and varnished in the same style. Sedan chairs were also introduced