292 



EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



This frame is attached to tlie body by means of shoulder-ropes braided 

 so as to be thick, and padded in the portions against the shoulders. 



This is quite primitive as a carrying device, and has its counterpart 

 only among the rude carriers of America and Africa. 



The palankin of Corea is an empty 

 cube 2£ feet each way. Little win- 

 dows look out in front and on either 

 side, each fitted with a pair of slid- 

 ing screens. Into these are let tiny 

 panes of glass 2 inches square. Two 

 men carry this box and divide the 

 burden by means of a yoke, with 

 straps that fit over the ends of the 

 poles to which the box is fastened, 

 two other men accompaning as re- 

 lief. Each man is armed with a 

 stick, which is used to insert under 

 the chair and lift it up to ease their 

 fellows. (Percival Lowell, Choson, 

 p. 50.) 



The same author informs us that 

 there is not a single wheel in Corea, 

 the palankin being the only means 

 of conveyance. 



One of the most primitive illus- 

 trations of carrying on the shoulder 

 is furnished by a copy of a small 

 photograph, taken in the Karen hill 

 country by the Eev. R. M. Luther. 



Fig. 50. 

 Carrying-frame. 



(Cat. No. 73093 U. S. N. M. Tate Yama, Jap: 

 P. L. .louy.) 



A boy is returning home with two bread- 

 fruits attached to the stock by their 

 natural stem. The pole on the shoulder, 

 with a weight depending from either 

 end, is the commonest device of the pro- 

 fessional carrier throughout this whole 

 regiou. And in this picture we have 

 the ancestor of every Chinese coolie 

 art, of the principal part of Japanese, 

 Siamese, and Polynesian carrying on the 

 shoulder. 



Indeed the Karen bread-fruit picker 

 is at a single view the primitive agri- 

 culturist, taking his load at once from 

 nature and the primitive agent of trans- 

 port;) (ion. 



A very elaborate and highly artistic 



Fig. 51. 



^ 



Karen Boy of Burma, carrying bread- 

 fruit. 



(Fir 



. photograph m the U. S. National Museum.) 



