BURDEN AND FURNITURE. 117 



essary mattresses and cushions, and two persons, 

 it makes a heavy load for an Arabian camel, and 

 is of course quite out of the question for a prop- 

 er dromedary. It is at best an uncomfortable 

 conveyance, but invalids can hardly travel other- 

 wise, and their ease may be very much promoted 

 by substituting for the wooden bottom a frame 

 with a stout tight sacking. Last and most lux- 

 urious of all, is the takhtirawan, or camel-litter, 

 which, from its gi-eat length, can only be used 

 on routes of convenient width, and free from 

 steep grades and sharp corners, and is therefore 

 unsuited to ordinary desert travel. The takhtir- 

 awan has a general resemblance to a coach-body 

 resting on two very long shafts, and is borne by 

 two camels, walking between the shafts as in 

 thills, one before and one behind. It is gener- 

 ally intended for two persons, but Pietro della 

 Valle says that the comoda e galante takhtirawan, 

 which he had made at Ispahan for the convey- 

 ance of the fair and courageous Maani and her 

 damsels, allowed convenient space for four to sit, 

 or three to lie. According to Lane, ' the head 

 of the hinder camel is painfully bent down un- 

 der the vehicle.' ^ Della Valle does not men- 



1 Burckhardt, Arabia, 263, speaks of the takhtirawan as 

 used by Pachas and other great people, and he mentions 

 seeing the heads of the camels that bore one of these vehi- 

 cles " bent down bi/ fatigue " but does not say that they were 

 kept down by the form of the takhtirawan. 



