Feb 1, 2009

Hill coolies with dandy & Kilta - 1863

Hill coolies with dandy & Kilta
Carte-de-visite portrait of porters, one of a series of prints of ethnic types and occupations taken by Samuel Bourne in 1863. A coolie was a hired labourer or burden-carrier. The term dandy was applied to a kind of vehicle used in the Himalayas consisting of a strong cloth slung like a hammock and attached to a bamboo staff carried by two or more men. The traveller would either sit sideways or lie on his back. A kilta is a wicker basket carried on the back, such as the one shown here in between the porters.