Umbrellas and their History | Page 7

Emperor when he went out hunting. Here it is, what
it appears to be in no other Eastern country, a defence against rain
rather than sun, and while the richer people do not go out much while it
is wet, the poorer classes wear a dress that protects them from the
weather. In the rainy season, for instance, a Chinese boatman wears a
coat of straw, and a hat of straw and bamboo. Such a dress, of course,
renders an Umbrella superfluous, and it matters little to the wearer how
hard the rain may pelt. Nevertheless great numbers of Umbrellas are
exported from China to India, the Indian Archipelago, and even South
America. In the 1851 Exhibition two only were shown. Of them the
report says, "They present nothing remarkable beyond the great number
of ribs, which amount to forty-two. The ribs are formed of wood; and
instead of being embraced by the fork of the stretcher, as in the case of
European Umbrellas, they have a groove cut out in the middle of their
lengths, into which the stretcher is secured by a stud of wood. The head
of each rib fits into a notch formed in the ring of wood, which is
fastened on to the top of the stick, there being a separate, notch for each
rib. The slide is of wood, and has forty-two notches, namely, one for
each stretcher, which like the ribs, is formed of wood. The covering of
the Umbrellas exhibited is of oiled paper coarsely painted."
But the use of the Umbrella travelled westward, and with it the custom
of regarding it as a mark of dignity.
Amongst the Arabs the Umbrella was a mark of distinction. Niebuhr,
who travelled in Southern Arabia, describes a procession of the Iman of
Sanah. In it the Iman and each of the princes of his numerous family,

caused a madalla, or large Umbrella, to be carried by his side; and it is
a privilege which, in this country, is appropriated to princes of the
blood, just as the Sultan of Constantinople permits none but his vizier
to have his caique, or gondola, covered behind, to keep him from the
heat of the sun. The same writer goes on to say that many independent
chiefs of Yemen carried madallas as a mark of their independence.
In Morocco, according to a passage quoted by a writer in the Penny
Magazine from the Travels of Ali Bey, the emperor alone and his
family are allowed to use it. "The retinue of the Sultan was composed
of a troop of from fifteen to twenty men on horseback. About a hundred
steps behind them came the Sultan, who was mounted on a mule with
an officer bearing his Umbrella, who rode by his side also on a mule.
The Umbrella is a distinguishing sign of the sovereign of Morocco.
Nobody but himself, his sons, or his brothers dare to make use of it." In
Turkey the Umbrella is common. A vestige of the reverence once
attached to it remains in the custom of compelling everybody who
passes the palace where the Sultan is residing to lower his Umbrella as
a mark of respect. And--at all events some years back, before the
Crimean war had introduced so many Europeans to
Constantinople--any one neglecting to pay the required reverence,
stood in considerable danger of a lively reminder from the sentry on
duty.
Before concluding this chapter, it may not be out of place to make a
few remarks as to the origin of the word Umbrella, as we have done
regarding the thing itself. The English name is borrowed from the
Italian Ombrella. The Latin term Umbella is applied by botanists to
those blossoms which are clustered at the extremities of several spokes,
radiating from the common stem like the metallic props of the
Umbrella. The name, as is seen, does not give the slightest idea of the
use of the article designated, as is often the case with words we
practical folk employ; and we might well take a lesson from our
cousins German or French, who have invented distinct names for the
weapon used to ward off the rays of the sun, and that employed against
rain, namely,--Regenschirm, parapluie; Sonnenschirm, parasol. These
are better than our names, even though both the French words labour

under the disadvantage of being hybrids, half Greek and half Latin.
Such, then, is the ancient history of the Umbrella, as far as our research
has enabled us to trace it, and, indeed, we are now not a little surprised
at the result of those labours which have enabled us to discover so
much.
CHAPTER III.
THE UMBRELLA IN ENGLAND.
As a canopy of state, Umbrellas were generally used in the south of
Europe; they are found in