The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-02-08
TRAVELLING IN AMMAN.
Queer Modes of LocOmotion Experience
by an English Tourist.


Though the French have been in
full possession of the Empire of An
nam for a considerable number of
| years, they have not sensibly modified
| the life and customs of the country.
| The Hon. George N. Curzon, NJ. p, an
| Englishman who recently travelled
| through French Indo-China, found the
travelling customs very peculiar. One
| of the most ordinary means of locomo-
| ton for the European traveller is the
| palanquin, which is a net of crimson
| cords, having a roof and screens of
| richly lacquered ends 1t is carried by
four or eight men.
The ordinary Annamite is very
| small man, and the palanquin is con-
| structed TO suit his size. Mr.. Curzon
was six feet high, with the usual pro-
| portions of robust Englishman; and he
found the palanquin insupporta bic.
THE most telescope contraction of
my lower limbs" he says, rendered
| it impossible for me to occupy one for
| longer than an hour. Seasoned trav-
elers, however. sleep in them with
ease, while being carried along. The
| coolie bearers march at jog trot,
which enables them to cover the
| ground with great rapidity, accom-
| plishing at least four miles an hour"
| For part of the journey Mr.. Curzon
was forced to travel a considerable
| distance on the back of little Anna
mite pony; and he found that this
method had it's inconvenience also.
rhA Il
| bog" after the rain. The natives ride
the pony with a wooden saddle and
with very narrow iron stirrup, which
| they grip in the cleft between the big
toe and the remaining toes. This style
| of holding on a, horse had its disad-
vantages for a European.
Frequently the traveller came to a
river or lagoon, which had to be crossed
in rude native small boat. Ponies
and men were loaded into the same
| boat. A single movement of one of the
| horses would have overturned the craft
and its contents in midstream; but the
ponies stood perfectly still.
81 have sometimes had horrid
qualms," Mr.. Curzon says, while cross
ing bac perhaps half mile in width,
with three or four ponies in the boat
at the same time. But never once did
the ponies seem to move by a hairs
breadth"
! The most remarkable institution of
travel in AMMAN is the tram, which is
not by any means railway, as the
word would indicate in English, but a
post-station. These stations are from
eight to fifteen miles apart, and to each
of them are attached a number of able
bodied men of the neigh5orhood, who
are held at the service of the state, and
receive a ration of rice.
These men are liable to be summoned
at any hour of the day or night from
their houses or fields by the dol, or SUI
perintendent of the tram, who beats a
drum; and if they fail to comply at once
with his orders, he beats them heavily
with a stick.
As the Englishman and his party APP
preached village, "a drum would be
heard beating, and numbers of men
would come out carrying banners of
red, blue and green flying from the tops
of BAN boo poles. Escorted by these
| anu ny ClId pCdl Cl
who ran behind and held over our
heads the red or green painted official
parasol of AMMAN, we entered the vii
lage, a coolie sweeping the road clear
| of dust in front of us.
I'm this fashion we advanced to the
communal house, before which table
would be placed in the open street,
shaded by an official umbrella and
supporting plates containing bananas,
oranges, eggs and other offerings and
sometimes chickens or a kicking pig in
a wicker hamper.
Here the mayor would be standing,
and unless restrained would kneel
down and make his lai, or official
obeisance, by three times touching his
forehead on the ground.
"Outside the larger towns the local
| governor, or mandarin, would appear,
borne in his official hammock and at
tended by two or three umbrella bear
ers, according to his rank; by lictors
carrying in long case the recognized
instruments of tlagellation; by his pipe
bearer; by a domestic carrying a wood
en- box in which were stored his writ
ing, smoking and chewing material;
and by pille-men and banner-men.
| These instruments of hagellation, by
the way, are used by the mandarin
upon those about him in the same
fashion as at an English public school,
Mr. Curzon says, and their use is not
considered an indignity even by per-
sons of high position. photographed
| Journal.
THE DEVOUT MUSSULM MAN.