One gem, figured by Pacudius, shows an Umbrella with a
bent handle, sloping backwards. Strabo describes a sort of screen or
Umbrella worn by Spanish women, but this is not like a modern
Umbrella.
Very many curious facts are connected with the use of the Umbrella
throughout the East, where it was nearly everywhere one of the
insignia of royalty, or at least of high rank.
M. de la Loub?re, who was Envoy Extraordinary from the French King
to the King of Siam in 1687 and 1688, wrote an account entitled a
"New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam," which was
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 fen?tre, a neuf ronds, & deux ?
sept ronds aux deux c?t?z de la fen?tre. 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.
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