Litter

Litter

occurs in the Auth. Vers. as a translation of צִב (tsab, from צָבִב, to move slowly), in Isa 66:20, (Sept. λαμπήνη), where a sedan or palanquin for the conveyance of a princely personage, borne by hand or upon the shoulders, or perhaps on the backs of animals, is evidently referred to. The original term occurs elsewhere only in Nu 6:3, in the phrase צִב עֶגלֹת (egloth' tsab, carts of the litter kind, A.V. "covered wagons"), where it is used of the large and commodious vehicles employed for the transportation of the materials and furniture of the tabernacle, being drawn by oxen. The term therefore signifies properly a hand-litter, and secondarily a wain or wheel-carriage. Litters or palanquins were, as we know, in use among the ancient Egyptians. They were borne upon the shoulders of men, and appear to have been used for carrying persons of consideration short distances on visits, like the sedan chairs of a former day in England (see Wilkinson, Anc. Eg. 1:73). In Song 3:9, we find the word אִפַּריוֹן, appiryon' (perhaps a foreign [Egyptian] word), Sept. φορεῖον, Vulg. ferculum, which occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and is applied to a vehicle used by king Solomon. In the immediate context it is described as consisting of a framework of cedar-wood, in which were set silver stanchions supporting a gold railing. with a purple-covered seat, and an embroidered rug, the last a present from the Jewish ladies. This word is rendered "chariot" in our Authorized Version, although unlike any other word so rendered in that version. It literally means a moving couch, and is usually conceived to denote a kind of sedan, litter, or rather palanquin, in which great personages and women were borne from place to place. "The name as well as the object immediately suggests that it may have been nearly the same thing as the takht-ravan, the moving throne or seat of the Persians. It consists of a light frame fixed on two strong poles, like those of our sedan chair. This frame is generally covered with cloth, and has a door, sometimes of lattice-work, at each side. It is carried by two mules, one between the poles before, the other behind. These conveyances are used by great persons when disposed for retirement or ease during a journey, or when sick or feeble through age; but they are chiefly used by ladies of consideration in their journeys" (Kitto). Some readers may remember the "litter of red cloth, adorned with pearls and jewels," together with ten mules (to bear it by turns), which king Zahr-Shah prepared for the journey of his daughter (Lane's Arabian Nights 1, 1:528). This was doubtless of the kind which is borne by four mules, two behind and two before. In Arabia. or in countries where Arabian usages prevail, two camels are usually employed to bear the takhtravan, and sometimes two horses. When borne by camels, the head of the hindmost of the animals is bent painfully down under the vehicle. This is the most comfortable kind of litter, and two light persons may travel in it. "The shibrieyeh is another kind of camel-litter, resembling the Indian howdah, by which name (or rather hodaj) it is sometimes called. It is composed of a small square platform with a canopy or arched covering. It accommodates but one person. and is placed upon the back of a camel, and rests upon two square carmel-chests, one on each side of the animal." SEE CART; SEE CAMEL.