AGILITY OF THE SILLENIES. 
9 
be impossible to get round them with the ordinary 
palankeen ; the poles, therefore, of those which are 
adapted to mountain journeys are divided in the 
centre, acting upon a movable hinge, opening be- 
fore and behind the palenkeen as the front bearer 
turns the sharp angle of a hill, and resuming their 
original position as soon as the abutment has been 
cleared and the path again becomes straight. It is 
wonderful to see with what agility the sillenies scale 
the steep acclivities, where there often appears scarce- 
ly footing for a goat, with loads that would distress 
any person of ordinary strength even upon level 
ground: they carry with them bamboos crossed at 
the top by a short transverse stick in the form of 
the ancient Greek T, upon which they rest their 
loads when fatigued. They are generally small men, 
but their limbs are large and the muscles strongly 
developed, from the severe exercise to which their 
laborious employment subjects them. Their legs 
are frequently disfigured by varicose veins which 
dilate to the size of a man’s little finger, appearing 
like cords twisted round their limbs and causing in 
the spectator a somewhat painful feeling of appre- 
hension lest they should suddenly burst,— a conse- 
quence that could not fail to be fatal. 
We found the road here to be difficult and fre- 
quently dangerous, winding along the edges of deep 
ravines and occasionally cut through the solid surface 
of the rock. The waters of the Coah Nullah dashed 
beneath our path over their narrow rocky bed, foam- 
ing and hissing on their way to the parent stream, of 
which they formed one of the numerous accessories. 
