This is not unlikely, but it is certain that the Parasol
has been in use from a very early period.
Chinese history goes a very long way back, inasmuch as it places the
invention of these elegant machines many thousand years anterior to
the Mosaic date of the world's creation. Their antiquity among the
Hindoos is more satisfactorily proved by the following passage from
the dramatic poem of _S'akunt?la_, the date of which is supposed
to be the 6th century of the Christian era:--
("The cares of supporting the nation harass the sovereign, while he
is cheered with a view of the people's welfare, as a huge Umbrella,
of which a man bears the staff in his own hand, fatigues while it
shades him. The sovereign, like a branching tree, bears on his head
the scorching sunbeams, while the broad shade allays the fever of
those who seek shelter under him.")
The origin of the Parasol is wrapped in considerable obscurity. Some
profound investigators have supposed that large leaves tied to the
branching extremities of a bough suggested the first idea of the
invention. Others assert that the idea was probably derived from the
tent, which remains in form unaltered to the present day. Dr.
Morrison, _however_, tells us that the tradition existing in
China is, that the _San_, which signifies a shade for sun and
rain, originated in standards and banners waving in the air.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25