The habit must have proven quite persistent, for the Third Council of Braga in 675 AD saw the need to order that bishops, when carrying the relics of martyrs in procession, must walk to the church, and not be carried in a chair, or litter, by deacons clothed in white. In Ancient Rome, a litter called lectica or "sella" often carried members of the imperial family, as well as other dignitaries and other members of the rich elite, when not mounted on horseback. The instructions for how to construct the Ark of the Covenant in the Book of Exodus resembles a litter. In pharaonic Egypt and many other places such as India, Rome, and China, the ruler and divinities (in the form of an idol like lord Krishna) were often transported in a litter in public, frequently in procession, as during state ceremonial or religious festivals. In the 1970s, entrepreneur and Bathwick resident, John Cuningham, revived the sedan chair service business for a brief amount of time. Several houses in Bath, Somerset, England still have the link extinguishers on the exteriors, shaped like outsized candle snuffers. Where possible, the link boys escorted the fares to the chairmen, the passengers then being delivered to the door of their lodgings. Sedan chairs, in use until the 19th century, were accompanied at night by link-boys who carried torches. These have been very rare since the 19th century, but such enclosed portable litters have been used as an elite form of transport for centuries, especially in cultures where women are kept secluded. These porters were known in London as "chairmen". 1860Īnother form, commonly called a sedan chair, consists of a chair or windowed cabin suitable for a single occupant, also carried by at least two porters, one in front and one behind, using wooden rails that pass through brackets on the sides of the chair. Lady in a litter being carried by her slaves, province of São Paulo in Brazil, c. The largest and heaviest types would be carried by draught animals. These are carried by at least two porters in equal numbers in front and behind, using wooden rails that pass through brackets on the sides of the couch. Such litters, consisting of a simple cane chair with maybe an umbrella to ward off the elements and two stout bamboo poles, may still be found in Chinese mountain resorts such as the Huangshan Mountains to carry tourists along scenic paths and to viewing positions inaccessible by other means of transport.Ī more luxurious version consists of a bed or couch, sometimes enclosed by curtains, for the passenger or passengers to lie on. Litters can also be created quickly by the lashing of poles to a chair. Such simple litters are common on battlefields and emergency situations, where terrain prohibits wheeled vehicles from carrying away the dead and wounded. The poles or frame are carried by porters in front and behind. Improvised sling-type litters on the Bataan Death March in the Philippines in 1942Ī simple litter consists of a sling attached along its length to poles or stretched inside a frame.
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