The sedan-chair

Abstract

The Sedan-chair (in Maltese " suggetta" and in Italian "portinatina") is a kind of small, oneperson, box carriage which was usually lifted by two strong men holding two removable wooden shafts as is done with an ordinary stretcher (Italian " lettiga"). Sometimes when no strong men were available or where the distance to be covered was somewhat long four men were employed. As a rule it was silk-lined internally and provided with a single seating accomodation. Its exterior, normally much decorated with pastoral scenes, often carried the coats-of-arms of the owner. In Malta the sedanchair was mostly used by distinguished personages, such as, the Grand Master, the Bishop and the Inquisitor, but high officials form the eight Langues, particularly the nobil Piliers or the Head Bailiffs as well as members of the nobility usually also owned such travelling chairs.