Headdress, coolie - Public domain weapon print

Photograph shows a Chinese laborer, full-length portrait, standing, facing right, holding pole with cord on end.
Title from front of item.
Caption on back : "Coolie. Armed with a strong light bamboo from four to five feet long, and a few fathoms of cord, the Chinese coolie is one of a class whose importance to every day comfort is scarcely appreciated. The weight of baggage he will carry with safety the carefulness with which bulky or fragile articles are for a small sum conveyed from place to place, and his ubiquitousness are great recommendations. Although it seems strange to say so the Chinese coolie with all his unwashed faults is an undoubted luxury, and one which, if absent would be found to be like health or strength, a necessity."
Photograph taken by John Thomson in Shanghai, 1870-72. (Source: Regine Thiriez, 2009)
In album: Japanese and Chinese portraits, [p. 46, lower right].