STRANGE TRAVEL IN STRANGE LANDS
We have been to many countries and have seen many modes of travel,
but there are still places, scattered over the globe, which have
not been visited and yet which have strange and interesting
vehicles of their own. Let us imagine, then, that we are taking a
hurried voyage round the world, stopping here and there for a few
moments to see those lands which we have left out on our previous
tours.
We will start from Plymouth, and sail southward until we come to
the beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira, and here some very
curious conveyances are to be seen. These are the carros, light
carts made of basket-work, which, instead of having wheels, are
mounted on runners like sleds.
It seems very strange at first to think of sledges in connection
with a country which boasts a semitropical climate, and where,
except in the mountains, ice and snow are unknown, but the quaint
carro is well-suited to its conditions and slides smoothly over the
steep, paved roads.
[Illustration: BULLOCK CARRO, MADEIRA.]
Two kinds of these sleds are used in Madeira. The bullock carros,
which are comfortably provided with springs, awnings, and curtains,
and the more simple carros da monte, that look like large toboggans
and run at a great speed down the hills. Hammocks are also used
in the island to carry travellers into districts where rough and
winding paths make the carro impracticable, and bullock carts are
to be seen on the farms and vineyards. Some of these carts are very
picturesque, especially those on which huge casks are carried.
[Illustration: TRAVELLING HAMMOCK, MADEIRA.]
In St. Michael's and the other islands of the Azores, there are
very curious bullock carts made of basket-work, with solid wheels.
[Illustration: CARRO DA MONTE, MADEIRA.]
From the Azores, or Westward Islands, we journey on until we
come to the West Indies, where, in Jamaica, we find that large,
four-wheeled wagons are used in the sugar plantations. These have
high sides so that great quantities of the canes can be carried,
and are drawn by four or six oxen.
[Illustration: BULLOCK CART, AZORES.]
Small donkeys with panniers also have their share of work in
Jamaica, but the negro inhabitants do much of their transport for
themselves, and on market days chattering crowds of women may be
seen making their way into the towns with great baskets of fruit or
heavy bundles tied up in gay bandana handkerchiefs on their woolly
heads.
After seeing the islands of the Atlantic Ocean we skirt round
Africa and come to Madagascar, where we find litters in use which
are much like those we have already seen in many countries and in
many ages. A traveller who visited Madagascar in 1861 describes a
royal procession when the queen rode in a palanquin that was richly
gilt and embroidered with gold and scarlet.
We now cross Asiatic Turkey and reach to Persia, where, if we
wish to see the country, we must engage horses for ourselves and
baggage-mules to carry our goods and chattels. A traveller who
went from Trebizond to Erzeroum in 1862 made the journey in this
fashion, and a very romantic experience it must have been, for the
scenery traversed was hilly and picturesque, and the climate left
nothing to be desired. "Our caravan passed cheerfully along," he
says, "the bells on our horses jangling merrily and the muleteers
singing their chanting songs and entertaining each other with
marvellous narratives. Much in the same way as we were travelling
then, the old Crusaders rode to Palestine."
[Illustration: MADAGASCAR LITTER.]
At that time, more than fifty years ago, the Bagdad railway had
not been begun and riding was the only means of getting about the
country. The same writer describes the gorgeously caparisoned
horses with purple silk bridle reins and silver harness, on which
the high officials of Persia rode through the streets of Teheran,
and goes on to say that the people might be called a nation of
horsemen, for even the royal despatches of the Shah and the public
documents were dated "From the King's Stirrup."
Among other interesting sights to be seen in the towns of Persia
are the itinerant beggars mounted on small humped bullocks, and the
large panniers slung on to the backs of mules in which women travel.
These panniers, which are closely covered, look as if they would be
very airless and uncomfortable, but in them long journeys are made,
and the mules thus loaded may be met in company with bullock-carts
and long lines of camels on the great caravan road which leads from
Persia into the heart of Central Asia.
In Afghanistan women and children travel on camels, wooden panniers
being hung on either side of the animal's hump, while between them
is a kind of platform sheltered by a little tent-like awning.
On we go, through Thibet and over the Himalayas, where we see
shaggy yaks coming across the steep passes with heavy loads on
their backs, and so reach India, the strange vehicles of which have
been already described.
There was, however, one province which was omitted when we visited
India before, and this is Pondicherry, which belongs to France
and is the only district of the great peninsula not under British
dominion. In this place a very original conveyance called the
push-push is to be seen. It is a light carriage with wheels,
springs, and awning complete, but instead of being drawn by a horse
it is, as its name implies, pushed from behind by two stalwart
natives.
[Illustration: PONDICHERRY PUSH-PUSH.]
East of India, across the Bay of Bengal, is Burmah, a country
where, as in Japan, everything seems to be picturesque and
artistic. Here we see little gaily clad women driving in charming
two-wheeled carts which have gracefully curved fronts like the
bows of a boat. Over the heads of the passengers is arranged an
umbrella-shaped awning, and the bullocks which draw these dainty
conveyances wear elaborately decorated harness and have collars
hung with tinkling bells.
From Burmah our journey takes us to Siam, where elephants are
used both for transport purposes and to carry travellers into
the mountains and forests of the interior. The howdahs of these
elephants are very curious, having large hoods which project both
in front and at the back.
Leaving the continent of Asia we cross the sea to the Dutch island
of Java, where the women ride in palanquins suspended from a long
pole and carried by two or four porters. Hammocks, which are very
much like the kagos of Japan, are also used, and there are quaint
ox-carts with little pent roofs and rough wheels made out of solid
slabs of wood.
Not very far from Java are the Philippine Islands, which now belong
to America. Here strange-looking animals called water-buffaloes, or
carabaos, are employed to draw clumsy wooden carts. The carabao is
guided by a cord attached to a ring in his nose, the driver sitting
either on the shaft of the cart or on the animal's back.