MESURIL. 29 
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. 
* A similar vehicle is said to be in common use among the natives of Congo, of which 
a drawing is given in De Bry's Collect, Peregrinationum. ' 
