Nothing gave me more trouble during my travels than finding lodgings, as it was sometimes impossible by mere signs and gestures to make the natives understand where I wanted to go.

In the present instance, one of the engineers interested himself so far in my behalf as to land with me, and to hire a palanquin, and direct the natives where to take me.
I was overpowered by feelings of the most disagreeable kind the first time I used a palanquin.

I could not help feeling how degrading it was to human beings to employ them as beasts of burden.
The palanquins are five feet long and three feet high, with sliding doors and jalousies: in the inside they are provided with mattresses and cushions, so that a person can lie down in them as in a bed.

Four porters are enough to carry one of them about the town, but eight are required for a longer excursion.

They relieve each other at short intervals, and run so quickly that they go four miles in an hour or even in three-quarters of an hour.