The load bearers weren’t always animals in Goa – like oxen. People, labourers and the like, carried baskets laden with goods from one village to the next. This journey on foot often took a day or more. These laterite posts called “Dovornem”, like milestones, dotted the paths at regular intervals, placed sufficiently close, enabled the weary traveller to unload his burden, rest and then proceed. The ingenious height and width necessitated no bending or lifting even.
These are few that still exists in Goa, that I have come across.
Top image: Dovornem at Verna plateau (near Mardol temple)
