JOURNEYS IN THE NEW WORLD
From the Old World we go to the New, and see if we can find any
curious vehicles in the great continents of America and Australia.
Beginning with America, as that was the first of the new lands
to be discovered, we will go back to the days when Red Indians
lived in the forests and rode their wild, hardy ponies across
the prairies. The Indians had no wheeled conveyances, but they
harnessed their ponies to strange little sleds, which dragged on
the ground and supported the long tent poles and heavy loads of
household gear.
These Red Indians were very brave but savage and treacherous, and
they bitterly resented the coming of strangers into their land.
The early settlers lived in constant dread of attack and massacre,
and they were always armed when they cultivated their clearings
in the forests or ventured further and further afield into the
undiscovered country of the West.
The conveyances used by the colonists of North America were
large, hooded wagons, very much like those to be seen in Africa,
and in these prairie schooners, as they were sometimes called,
the pioneers carried their wives and their children out into the
wilderness.
[Illustration: AMERICAN TROTTER.]
The wagons were drawn by teams of strong horses, mules, or oxen,
and large numbers of emigrants generally travelled together. This
was necessary, as small parties would almost certainly have been
attacked by the Indians.
Even when they did travel in company the colonists were not always
safe, and a man who went to the West in 1850 tells a terrible story
of his adventures.
[Illustration: QUEBEC CALÈCHE.]
On this occasion Indian guides were employed to lead the way across
the passes of the Rocky Mountains, and these guides proved to
be untrustworthy and treacherous. One night, when the camp was
pitched in a forest, nearly all the horses were stolen, together
with the stores, and then, when the emigrants were in this helpless
position, they were attacked by a band of Indians. After that,
the story seems like one of the cinema plays with which nowadays
we are all familiar, for the writer tells how he and another man
were chosen to ride for help to a neighbouring fort, how they were
pursued by the savages, how they escaped, and how, finally, when
they returned, it was to find that they were too late, and that
during their absence the wagons had been burnt and the hapless
people murdered.
Even disasters like this did not, however, daunt the brave
adventurers, and thirteen years later we hear of a huge convoy
starting westward from Chicago. On this occasion many, who could
not afford to purchase wagons, set out on foot for the long journey
of more than a thousand miles, dragging their possessions on little
two-wheeled handcarts.
Times have changed now, and there are many railways crossing the
great continent. The Indians have disappeared from the forests, and
in the Rocky Mountains gay parties of holidaymakers can be seen in
the summer-time, riding in the same woods where, a century ago,
their ancestors, grimly alert and with guns in their hands toiled
along on the weary journey that was to bring them at last to the
wonderful "El Dorado" of their dreams, where new homes and fabulous
riches were to be found.
At the present time in the western districts the men are great
riders, and extraordinary feats of horsemanship are common among
the cowboys on some of the cattle ranches.
The vehicles of modern North America are much like those of
European countries, but mention must be made of the curious cars
used to show off the paces of the celebrated trotting horses. These
little two-wheeled carts are very lightly made, and seem to consist
merely of two wheels, a small seat, and a pair of shafts.
In Quebec, Canada, a very smart cab may be seen. It is of
picturesque appearance, on two high wheels, and bears the French
name of "calèche."
In South America there are not many curious vehicles. A great part
of the country is covered with tropical forests, and in the south
riding is the principal means of getting from place to place.
Mules and oxen are used as beasts of burden, and in some districts
quaint-looking animals called llamas are also employed. These
creatures, which most of us have seen in zoological gardens, are
very hardy and can carry heavy loads on their backs.
[Illustration: LLAMAS.]
Not far from the coast of America is Cuba, and here bullock wagons
suitable to the tropical climate of the island are used, with
shady roofs made of palm-leaves. These are driven by negroes, who
urge on the animals with long, iron-pointed goads. The reins are
attached to the ends of the bullock's horns.
[Illustration: CUBAN VOLANTE.]
In the streets of Havana, the capital of Cuba, hooded carriages
called volantes, or kitrins, are seen. They are drawn by two horses
or mules, one being harnessed between the shafts while the other
is outside on the left. Sometimes three horses are driven abreast.
These vehicles are very curious in appearance, for they have
enormous wheels and shafts that are over fifteen feet in length.
The horses are ridden by negro postilions, who sometimes wear
gorgeous scarlet liveries ornamented with gold lace, and jack-boots
that reach almost to their waists.
From Cuba we can travel east or west, sailing either round the
Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, but whichever direction we choose
our ship comes at last to the great island continent of Australia.
There we find, in the large towns such as Sydney and Melbourne,
tramways, motor-cars, and even the old familiar hansom cabs of the
London streets.
Australia has not any strange vehicles of its own, for when
discovered it was inhabited only by savages, and it had no animals
that could be used as beasts of burden. These latter have, however,
been imported and acclimatized, and now horses and cattle may be
seen everywhere, while, if we travel across the sandy plains of the
west, we meet long lines of heavily laden camels that look as if
they had marched straight out of the Sahara or the Arabian deserts.
[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN BOUNDARY RIDER.]
The horses of Australia are now famous all over the world, and the
Colonial riders are as celebrated. Indeed, in many districts men
almost live in the saddle, for in the great southern continent
estates are measured not by acres but by hundreds of miles, and the
shepherds and boundary riders often have to ride long distances in
their day's work.
[Illustration: COUNTRY COACH, AUSTRALIA.]
An Australian horseman "up country" is a very picturesque figure
with his slouched felt hat, his rolled scarlet blanket, and the tin
billy-can dangling from his saddle.
There are not, as yet, many railways in the more thinly inhabited
districts of Australia, and travellers drive in coaches drawn
by two or four horses. Other vehicles are the buggies, light
two-wheeled conveyances which can be used where there are few roads
and the tracks through the bush are rough and steep.