Stamps with horse power

Equines are the subject of a set of four stamps to be issued by Maltapost's philatelic bureau on Friday.

The stamps were designed by Damian Borg Nicholas.

The 11c stamp shows a hearse drawn by a pair of horses at a time when it was customary to bury the dead in churches. Church burial was discontinued when the Addolorata Cemetery was completed in 1868. The horse-drawn hearse was similar to the ones used in southern Italy.

One could hire a first-, second- or third-class hearse. A white hearse was reserved for children and young unmarried women. Motorised hearses were introduced at the end of the 1960s.

The wooden plough (15c stamp) continued to be used well into the 1950s and 1960s when it started being replaced by mechanised machinery.

Farmers often had to plough small, scattered patches and terraced strips of land, for which the single plough was ideal. This was generally pulled by a mule. The double plough, having a longer beam, was attached to a brace of drought beasts of burden.

Before the advent of windmills, the grinding of flour was done by treadmills (62c stamp). A mule or horse, often blindfolded, was tied to a beam that turned a central, vertical axle operating a series of wooden wheels and cogs to turn a grindstone. This system did not need wind power and was less costly to maintain.

In the 19th century, the government updated sanitary laws. Trachoma and other infections, generally traced to dust, called for the need to subdue dust clouds in dry, windy summer days (66c stamp). Government employees with sprinkler carts drawn by mules or horses visited built-up areas in the early afternoon to water the streets to mitigate the damage caused by the dust.

The carts carried a barrel of non-potable water and the sprinkler was unhooked and moved from one side to side to the other with a piece of rope as the cart travelled along.

Eventually, the cart was replaced by a mechanised sprinkler.

More details can be obtained from the philatelic bureau on 2123 9153.

philately@maltapost.com