China: a litter or palanquin carrying a woman is being transported by two mules across a stream in a rocky pass. Wood engraving by E. Froment after W. Small.

They are accompanied by men on foot and on a camel. "Life in China, IX.-The mule litter. The mule litter is used in the mountain passes north of Pekin, and may be hired for the journey to the Great Wall. The litter is in the form of a huge sedan, with double shafts, the whole being slung on the back of two ponies, or mules, the one in front and the other behind, in such a way as to leave the animals the full and free use of their limbs in climbing the rough, rocky defiles of the Nankow Pass. The chair is large enough to hold two individuals and baggage for a journey. It is by far the easiest and most comfortable mode of travelling over the rough pass to reach the Great Wall. It, however, requires some slight nerve in the traveller, as the path frequently leads over the verge of a dangerous precipice, where a false step of the sure-footed mules would plunge the litter and its contents into the fatal depths of the pass."--The graphic, loc. cit.