translated in 1693 into English. According to his account the use of
the Umbrella was granted to some only of the subjects by the king. An
Umbrella with several circles, as if two or three umbrellas were
fastened on the same stick, was permitted to the king alone, the
nobles carried a single Umbrella with painted cloths hanging from it.
The Talapoins (who seem to have been a sort of Siamese monks) had
Umbrellas made of a palm-leaf cut and folded, so that the stem formed
a handle. The same writer describes the audience-chamber of the King
of Siam. In his quaint old French, he says:--"Pour tout meuble il n'y
a que trois para-sol, un devant la fenêtre, a neuf ronds, & deux à
sept ronds aux deux côtéz de la fenêtre. Le para-sol est en ce Pais-la,
ce que le Dais est en celui-ci."

Tavernier, in his "Voyage to the East," says that on each side of
the Mogul's throne were two Umbrellas, and also describes the hall of
the King of Ava as decorated with an Umbrella. The Mahratta princes,
who reigned at Poonah and Sattara, had the title of Ch'hatra-pati,
"Lord of the Umbrella." Ch'hatra or cháta has been suggested as the
derivation of _satrapaes_ (_exatrapaes_ in Theopompus), and
it seems a probable derivation enough. The cháta of the Indian and
Burmese princes is large and heavy, and requires a special attendant,
who has a regular position in the royal household. In Ava it seems to
have been part of the king's title, that he was "King of the white
elephant, and Lord of the twenty-four Umbrellas." Persons of rank in
the Mahratta court, who were not permitted the right of carrying an
Umbrella, used a screen, a flat vertical disc called AA'-ab-gir,
carried by an attendant. Even now the Umbrella has not lost its
emblematic meaning. In 1855 the King of Burmah directed a letter to
the Marquis of Dalhousie in which he styles himself "His great,
glorious, and most excellent Majesty, who reigns over the kingdoms of