Audiobook: How the World Travels by Methley, Alice A.

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Title: How the World Travels

Author: A. A. Methley

Illustrator: W. H. Holloway

Release Date: March 8, 2014 [EBook #45078]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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Transcriber's note: Minor spelling inconsistencies, mainly hyphenated words, have been harmonized. Italic text has been marked with underscores. Obvious typos have been corrected. An "Illustrations II" has been added so as to include the illustrations not in the "ILLUSTRATIONS" section.

[Illustration: RIDING A BULLOCK IN AFRICA.]

HOW THE WORLD TRAVELS

HOW THE WORLD TRAVELS

BY

A. A. METHLEY, F.R.G.S.

ILLUSTRATED BY

W. H. HOLLOWAY

NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. TRAVEL IN THE OLDEN DAYS 1

II. COACHING DAYS 11

III. STRANGE VEHICLES OF EUROPE 21

IV. JOURNEYS THROUGH INDIA 32

V. THE CONVEYANCES OF CHINA AND JAPAN 41

VI. JOURNEYS THROUGH AFRICA 52

VII. JOURNEYS IN THE NEW WORLD 63

VIII. TRAVELLING IN THE WILDS 74

IX. THROUGH ICE AND SNOW 84

X. STRANGE TRAVEL IN STRANGE LANDS 95

XI. TRAVEL OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY 105

XII. THE TRAVEL OF TO-MORROW 117

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

PREHISTORIC SLED 3

EARLY CART WITH SOLID WHEELS 4

EGYPTIAN CHARIOT 5

ROMAN TRAVELLING CARRIAGE 6

ROMAN LITTER AND MOUNTING STOOL 7

EARLY SIDE-SADDLE 9

A MEDI�VAL COACH 12

AN OLD FAMILY COACH 13

RIDING PILLION FASHION 14

SEDAN CHAIR 15

POST-CHAISE 16

IN THE WILD WEST 17

SEASIDE CARRIAGE DRAWN BY GOAT 22

BELGIAN DOG-DRAWN CART 25

SEDAN CHAIR, CONSTANTINOPLE 26

TURKISH MOURNING CAR 27

SCHIESSEL CAR 29

SICILIAN CART 30

CAR IN COLOMBO, CEYLON 33

BOMBAY CAR WITH HOOD 35

CONVEYANCE FOR ZENANA LADIES 36

EKKA 37

CAMELS HARNESSED TO CARRIAGE 38

CHINESE COUNTRY CHAIR 43

MULE PALANQUIN 44

WHEELBARROW OMNIBUS 45

A TRAVELLING TRADESMAN 46

CHINESE CART 48

JAPANESE RICKSHAW 49

CAPE BULLOCK WAGON 53

DURBAN RICKSHAW 55

BEIRA TRAM 58

CAIRO CART 59

IN MOROCCO 61

AMERICAN TROTTER 64

QUEBEC CAL�CHE 65

LLAMAS 68

CUBAN VOLANTE 69

AUSTRALIAN BOUNDARY RIDER 71

COUNTRY COACH, AUSTRALIA 72

MIXED TRANSPORT IN NIGERIA 76

CAMEL WITH BRIDAL BOWER 78

CARRIERS IN THE FOREST 80

MONO-RAIL WORKED BY NATIVES 82

ICE-BOAT 86

REINDEER AND SLEDGE 87

EXPLORERS DRAGGING SLEDGE 88

INDIAN TRAPPER ON SNOW-SHOES 90

ENGLISH SLEDGE 92

A HAPPY PARTY IN AUSTRALIA 93

BULLOCK CARRO, MADEIRA 96

TRAVELLING HAMMOCK, MADEIRA 97

CARRO DA MONTE, MADEIRA 98

BULLOCK CART, AZORES 99

MADAGASCAR LITTER 101

PONDICHERRY PUSH-PUSH 103

EARLY ENGINE 107

WHITE SUDAN TRAIN 108

MOUNTAIN RAILWAY 109

HIGH BICYCLE 111

EARLY CYCLE 113

EARLY MOTOR-CAR 114

MONO-RAIL CAR, WITH GYROSCOPE 119

OVERHEAD TROLLY 121

MONOPLANE, THE FIRST TYPE TO CROSS THE CHANNEL 123

WATERPLANE, BIPLANE, AND SCOUT BALLOON 125

ILLUSTRATIONS II

RIDING A BULLOCK IN AFRICA. frontispiece

STATE ELEPHANT IN INDIA. 32

PALANQUIN FOR ARAB WOMEN. 81

CHAPTER I

TRAVEL IN THE OLDEN DAYS

"Coach, carriage, wheelbarrow, cart": we have all, most likely, repeated these words again and again, as we counted the cherry-stones out of a pie, the petals of a daisy, or the tufts on a blade of grass, and we have hoped, as we counted, that Dame Fortune would give us a coach or a carriage to drive to church in on our wedding morning.

A cart seemed a very commonplace affair, and a wheelbarrow was almost too absurd to be possible. Yet there are countries where people actually ride in wheelbarrows and in other conveyances even more quaint and unusual.

It will be interesting, perhaps, to borrow a magic carpet for a little while, or the cap of Fortunatus, and travel round the world and back through the ages of history, so that we may see the strange vehicles that are in use to-day, and those in which our ancestors made their journeys hundreds of years ago.

The first conveyances of all, used in far-away prehistoric days and later still in wild uncivilised lands, were simply rough sleds on which heavy loads were dragged. Later, circular slabs of wood were cut from the trunks of trees to serve as wheels, and, instead of pulling these primitive carts themselves, the men trained oxen to do the work.

As time went on improvements were made, and we find pictures of chariots on the walls of the ancient, ruined cities of Egypt and Assyria.

The Bible tells us of the chariots and horsemen of Pharaoh, who were overwhelmed in the Red Sea, but more than two hundred years before that time King Thutmosis of Egypt had a wonderful war chariot, which, in 1903, was discovered in his tomb at Thebes. It is now in the museum at Cairo, and on it are painted pictures of Thutmosis driving in the chariot, charging his enemies and shooting arrows at them.

[Illustration: PREHISTORIC SLED.]

Other nations also used chariots in warfare, and we read that they carried two men, one being the driver and the other the warrior. In a close encounter the soldier alighted and fought on foot. Some of these chariots were armed with great hooks or scythes fastened to the wheels. Julius C�sar tells us that when he invaded Britain the chief, Cassivelaunus, had more than four thousand chariots, and he describes how skilfully they were handled by their drivers.

[Illustration: EARLY CART WITH SOLID WHEELS.]

"In the most steep and difficult places," he says, "they could stop their horses at full stretch, turn them which way they pleased, run along the pole, rest on the harness, and throw themselves back into the chariots with incredible dexterity."

In Britain, at that time, there were also conveyances for travelling, called benna, and also larger carriages with four wheels, which carried the wives and children of the warriors and their baggage.

The Romans themselves used chariots both for warlike and peaceful purposes, and they were named biga, triga, or quadriga, according to the number of horses by which they were drawn. Chariot races were an important feature of the great festivals that took place in the Colosseum, and it is said that Nero once drove one with ten horses abreast.

[Illustration: EGYPTIAN CHARIOT.]

These racing chariots were, of course, lightly made and designed for speed, but there were other vehicles of great size and magnificence, which carried successful generals when they rode in triumph through Rome to celebrate their victories. This triumphal car was usually drawn by four white horses, but very often by lions, elephants, tigers, bears, leopards, or dogs.

[Illustration: ROMAN TRAVELLING CARRIAGE.]

Other vehicles for more everyday use were to be seen in the streets of ancient cities, and in the paved roadways of Pompeii are deep ruts made by the wheels of chariots nearly two thousand years ago.

[Illustration: ROMAN LITTER AND MOUNTING STOOL.]

Litters were also used at that time, and Pliny calls them "travellers' chambers." They were borne on shafts, and special slaves used to act as bearers. Roman ladies often travelled in covered carriages called carpenta, which were gorgeously decorated.

During the medi�val ages carriages fell into disuse, or were only employed by women and invalids, or by kings and princes on ceremonial occasions. Charlemagne had a wonderful vehicle with richly ornamented wheels and an inlaid roof supported by columns, and the Crusaders on their march had with them large wagons for their baggage.

In the fourteenth century new conveyances called whirlicotes and charettes were used. When King Richard II. married Anne of Denmark, the new queen entered London accompanied by her maids of honour, who drove in charettes, which were wagons with benches, painted red and lined with scarlet cloth. On London Bridge were crowds of people anxious to see the royal bride. In the confusion, one of the charettes was overturned and the ladies thrown to the ground.

Litters very much like those of Roman days were still to be seen in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At her coronation Queen Elizabeth of York, dressed in white and with her golden hair loose over her shoulders, was carried through London in a rich litter, with a canopy over her head borne by four Knights of the Bath.

Anne Boleyn, in 1553, was carried to her coronation in a litter covered with cloth of gold, and the two horses that supported it were clothed in white damask.

[Illustration: EARLY SIDE-SADDLE.]

During the Middle Ages vehicles were so few because the roads were very bad, and in many places there were only rough bridle-paths from one town to another. Riding was, therefore, the principal means of transit, and horses, mules, and donkeys were used. Very large horses, the ancestors of our present cart-horses, were ridden by the knights, for a warrior in heavy mail could only be carried by a strong animal. This was especially the case when it was necessary for the horse itself to be also clothed in metal armour.

The ladies also rode, and side-saddles were first introduced into England by Anne of Bohemia, the wife of Richard II. These saddles were very different from those of the present day, for they were like chairs placed sideways on the horses' backs.

Pack-horses were much used in medi�val times, and pictures show us long trains of these animals, each with its heavy load, wending their way along the rough, narrow pathways of old England.

CHAPTER II

COACHING DAYS

Coaching days! The words carry us back a hundred years or more, and bring to our minds gay, romantic pictures of scarlet-clad postilions, prancing horses, and a rosy-faced driver with his long whip and quaint three-tiered cape. We seem to hear the merry sound of the horns, the ring of hoofs, and the rattle of harness, as the coach, with its passengers and piled baggage, clatters along a broad high road or draws up at the open door of some old-fashioned English inn. Those are the eighteenth-century days that we call to mind, the days when coaching was at its height, but we must go further back than that if we want to find the origin of this form of conveyance, and to see how it developed out of the clumsy wagons and quaint whirlicotes and charettes of medi�val times.

We first hear of coaches in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and they are said to have been introduced into England in 1594 by a coachman who was a native of Holland.

There is an old picture of the great queen riding in one of her new equipages on some state occasion. It was open at the sides, had a high roof decorated with waving plumes, and was drawn by two richly caparisoned horses.

[Illustration: A MEDI�VAL COACH.]

At first, it appears, coaches were reserved for the use of royalty, but Stowe tells us that "after a while divers great ladies made them coaches and rid in them up and down the country, to the great admiration of all beholders." He goes on to say that within twenty years coach-making became an important trade in England.

[Illustration: AN OLD FAMILY COACH.]

These coaches were very different from those of later times, for they were open at the sides and the wheels were very small and low. In shape they were not unlike the state coach that is still used at coronations and other great occasions.

[Illustration: RIDING PILLION FASHION.]

During the seventeenth century many alterations and improvements took place in coach-building both in England and France, and in 1620 we find Louis XIV. driving in a carriage with glass sides. In the reign of this monarch, too, a curious light two-wheeled conveyance was introduced. It was called a flignette and very much resembled a modern dog-cart.

[Illustration: SEDAN CHAIR.]

In the eighteenth century greater progress was made as roads improved. Sedan chairs came into use, and ladies rode pillion fashion, sitting on a cushion behind the saddle of the horseman.

[Illustration: POST-CHAISE.]

Hired carriages, too, began to be seen in the streets of Paris, and in 1625 they appeared in London. Very few of them were allowed at first, but in 1634 an old sea-captain named Baily established a stand for hackney coaches near the Maypole in the Strand, and by the end of the century there were no fewer than eight hundred of these vehicles in the City and suburbs.

[Illustration: IN THE WILD WEST.]

Stage coaches to carry both passengers and mails were the next innovation, and they were soon running regularly during summer on three of the principal high roads of England.

Nowadays, when we can travel from one end of the country to the other in a few hours, we should think the old conveyances very slow coaches indeed, but at the end of the seventeenth and during the eighteenth centuries they were thought marvels of swiftness. It took a week--only a week, people said then--to go from London to York, and the journey to Manchester could actually be made in four days.

In Hogarth's pictures we can see what an early stage coach was like, with its large, clumsy wheels, high roof, and an enormous basket at the back in which baggage was carried and where passengers who wished to travel cheaply could sit. Later on this basket developed into an extra back seat, and in a picture painted in 1834 there is a coach with no less than three separate compartments, besides having seats on the roof.

In 1784 sixteen coaches left London every day, and it was one of the sights of the City to see them start from the General Post Office on their journeys. Each vehicle had an armed guard, for those were the days of highwaymen, and it was no uncommon thing for travellers to be stopped and robbed by gentlemen of the road.

Dick Turpin was one of these thieves, and for a long time he terrorised Epping Forest and the outskirts of London, and another famous--or infamous--robber was the young Frenchman Claud Duval, about whom many romantic tales are told. On one occasion he returned the jewels that he had stolen from a beautiful lady, on condition that she would descend from her carriage and dance a measure with him on the open road.

It is difficult now to realise what our highways were like a hundred years ago and more, when coaching was at its height. Then the great roads were crowded with traffic, post-chaises, stage wagons, and pack-horses. Now it is sad to see the same roads narrowed to half their former width by broad borders of grass that have been allowed to grow.

In those days there were many private travelling carriages besides the public coaches. A most interesting one is now in London at Madame Tussaud's. This is the wonderful coach which belonged to Napoleon Buonaparte. In it the great emperor rode back from Russia after the burning of Moscow, and later on from Cannes to Paris on his triumphal progress through France in 1815.

It is said that Napoleon himself designed the fittings of this carriage, for it contained everything necessary for a long journey, and was intended to serve the purpose of a bedroom, a dining-room, and a kitchen. The coach was captured by a German officer after the Battle of Waterloo, the emperor making his escape on horseback; and having been purchased by a man named Bullock, it was exhibited through the whole of the United Kingdom.

Gradually, as time went on, railways superseded the picturesque old coaches. They continued to be used, however, in less civilised countries, and can still be seen in the wild forest districts of Australia, New Zealand, and America.

In the early pioneer days of the United States these coaches, with their loads of passengers and mails, sometimes encountered bands of Red Indians in their journeys across the prairies, and there are stories of terrible disasters and narrow escapes when the travellers were pursued and attacked by the savages.

Those exciting times have passed away now, but coaches have not entirely disappeared. In Hyde Park on Sunday mornings before the War we could see the beautiful vehicles of the Four-in-hand Club to remind us of how our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers travelled in the merry--but, perhaps, rather dangerous--days of old.

CHAPTER III

STRANGE VEHICLES OF EUROPE

It is not only in the far-away countries of the world that we must travel in order to discover curious conveyances. Some are to be seen quite near at home, even in England itself. We must remember that as a rule it is because things are unfamiliar that they seem quaint and curious, so let us try to imagine for a few moments that we are natives of some distant land who have come to pay a visit to Great Britain.

We land at Dover, perhaps, or Newhaven, and go along the coast until we come to Brighton. It is quite a commonplace seaside town, no doubt, but, in our characters of observant foreigners, we shall notice many interesting things, and among them are several extraordinary little vehicles which are drawn up in a row along the parade.

What can they be, these tiny carriages, each with its wheels, shafts, and box-seat complete? Then we see that instead of a pony or donkey, the little conveyances are drawn by shaggy, long-horned goats.

[Illustration: SEASIDE CARRIAGE DRAWN BY GOAT.]

The stranger stares with amusement at the dainty goat-chaises as they drive away filled with merry loads of children. Then he travels up to London and goes for a stroll in one of the poorer districts of the great city.

It is a Bank Holiday perhaps, or a fine Saturday in the summer-time, and the costermongers are off in their donkey-carts for a day's outing on Hampstead Heath. What a noise and clatter there is as the heavily laden little vehicles trot past, the donkeys looking so smart with their well-groomed coats and bright harness, and the drivers in the festive costumes decorated with pearl buttons that, surely, no foreign city in the world can rival!

We leave Whitechapel or the Old Kent Road behind us now, and journey out into the country, where, in some narrow green lane or on a breezy common, we overtake a yellow-painted gipsy van, hung about with baskets and brooms, and drawn by a sturdy, sleepy old horse. The owner of the van walks at his horse's head, or sits comfortably on the shaft, and through a little muslin-curtained window we catch a glimpse of his wife's dark face and long earrings. The gipsy children, ragged, bright-eyed urchins, lag behind, gathering flowers from the hedges, or run through the dust of the road to beg for pennies.

Certainly England has its own share of strange vehicles, and there are others even more curious still to be seen in out-of-the-way districts. One of these is the two-wheeled cart used for farm-work in some parts of Wales, which, in shape, is almost exactly like the ancient chariots that were found in Britain by the Roman invaders when they landed between Walmer and Sandwich nearly two thousand years ago.

Across St. George's Channel the quaint-looking Irish jaunting car is to be found, and then we travel back again to the continent of Europe. If we landed at Ostend or Antwerp before the War, most likely the first thing we should have seen would be a neat little cart loaded with vegetables or bright milk-cans, and harnessed to one or two large handsome dogs.

In England most dogs, except those owned by farmers or sportsmen, lead idle lives, but this is not the case on the Continent. The dogs of Belgium, Holland, and Germany are quite content to work--and to work hard, too--for their livings. There are numbers of them in the towns and villages, bravely dragging heavy loads, or lying down between the shafts and taking a well-earned nap in some shady corner of the cobbled street.

[Illustration: BELGIAN DOG-DRAWN CART.]

In Belgium dogs were employed, not only for peaceful purposes, but in times of war for drawing ambulances, little ammunition wagons, and machine-guns.

[Illustration: SEDAN CHAIR, CONSTANTINOPLE.]

Oxen are also used to draw carts in most of the European countries, and very picturesque some of them are. In Turkey most elaborate bullock carts are used in some districts as mourning carriages, and in them women are conveyed when they wish to visit the grave-yards. These carts are usually drawn by two animals which wear, fixed to their collars, large curved pieces of wood hung with tassels. The carts themselves are elaborately decorated, and while one man leads the bullocks another, staff in hand, walks at the side of the vehicle.

[Illustration: TURKISH MOURNING CAR.]

There are many other strange conveyances to be seen in Turkey, perhaps the most curious of all being the sedan chairs which, although they have quite disappeared from other cities of Europe, are still used at night or on snowy days in the streets of Constantinople. In the eighteenth century sedan chairs were common in England, and in them the powdered and patched ladies went to their balls and routs, but it is strange to think of the quaint old-world conveyances being carried by stalwart Turkish porters along the dark, muddy streets of an Oriental city. These chairs, like the agricultural carts of Wales, come down to us from a past age, and another strange survival is seen at Schiessel, a village near Bremen, where the peasant girls drive to weddings and other festivities in large wagons that, painted and decorated with garlands of flowers, are exactly like the old carts and charettes of the Middle Ages.

Russia is a country where the carriages appear very strange to English eyes, for there three horses are driven abreast, and while the two outer animals gallop, the one in the centre is trained to trot. As may be imagined, a very skilful and experienced driver is necessary to guide these droskeys, as they are called, along the rough country roads or through the crowded streets of a city.

[Illustration: SCHIESSEL CART.]

Among other curious vehicles which may be seen in Europe are the small two-wheeled omnibuses of Portugal and the quaint, gaily-decorated carts of Sicily. These latter conveyances are picturesque and interesting, for they are covered with paintings of figures and landscapes, while even the wheels are ornamented and carved. Donkeys draw these brilliant little carts, and they are usually used by fruit-sellers, but often they may be seen with a heavy load of passengers.

[Illustration: SICILIAN CART.]

Before the time of railways large public travelling carriages, called diligences, were used in France, Switzerland, and other European countries. They were great, cumbrous vehicles carrying many passengers with their luggage. In out-of-the-way country districts, and among the mountains, these old-fashioned diligences are still to be seen, clattering along the dusty roads or toiling up the steep passes across the Alps.

CHAPTER IV

JOURNEYS THROUGH INDIA

We have seen some of the strange vehicles of England and Europe, and now we will travel eastward into Asia. There, as is only right, we must go first to India, for the great peninsula is one of King George's dominions, and its inhabitants, whether they be black, brown, or yellow, Hindoo or Mahomedan, civilised or savage, are as much British subjects as we are ourselves.

[Illustration: STATE ELEPHANT IN INDIA.]

India is an immense country, extending as it does from the Himalayas in the north to Point de Galle in the extreme south of Ceylon, and if we travel through the country we shall find many curious vehicles. Some of them are exactly the same as those which were in use hundreds of years ago, for India is a conservative land, and, although there are railways and tramways there now, while fine motor-cars speed along the roads, most of the natives are content with old ways, and travel through the country districts in the quaint bullock carts and palanquins that satisfied their ancestors in the days before the powers of steam and electricity had been discovered.

[Illustration: CART IN COLOMBO, CEYLON.]

We will begin with Colombo, as that is usually the place where travellers land on their journey to the East. When we go ashore from our steamer we either take rickshaws, which were introduced into the island from Japan in 1883, or else engage one of the little bullock carts and drive through the picturesque, tree-shaded streets of the town. These bullock carts, or gharis, have two wheels and can be driven very quickly. They are provided with hoods, as the sun is very hot in tropical Ceylon.

The bullocks are often decorated with elaborate patterns cut or branded into their hides, and the natives excuse this cruel practice by saying that not only does it distinguish the animals from each other and prevent their being stolen, but that it also protects them from rheumatism.

There are many larger carts with quaint, palm-thatched roofs to be seen in Colombo. These are called hackeries and are found in many parts of India. It is often strange and amusing to see the numbers of natives, men, women, and children, who are able to pack themselves into one of these vehicles.

There are a great many different varieties of bullock carts in India. Those in Coonoor, for instance, have very high, narrow hoods, while in Bombay an awning is provided which stretches out over the bullock's back and shelters both passengers and driver. Another type of cart has four wheels and curious cage-like sides, while the wooden cover is provided with blinds and there is a rack for baggage on the roof.

In Madras the raikla, a vehicle of quite a different description, is seen. It appears to consist merely of two wheels and a tiny seat for the driver. These carts are very swift, and are used when great speed is required.

[Illustration: BOMBAY CART WITH HOOD.]

In Ajmere the bullock carts have awnings supported by four poles, and in Calcutta there are elaborately decorated carriages drawn by gaily caparisoned oxen.

Other interesting conveyances are those in which the zenana ladies travel. These are carts with a hood, and velvet curtains at the sides. When in use the curtains can be tightly drawn, so that passers-by cannot catch a glimpse of the passengers.

[Illustration: CONVEYANCE FOR ZENANA LADIES.]

Besides bullocks, ponies are used in India. They draw the ekkas, which are light, hooded carts, and the tongas, generally used by European travellers.

[Illustration: EKKA.]

In some districts of India camels draw carriages, and we have a picture of a brougham into which two of these ungainly animals are harnessed. Very strange it looks, with the drivers seated on the humps of the camels and a rather unnecessary coachman perched on the box-seat of the vehicle. A more imposing equipage is the state carriage of the Begum of Bhopal, for this is drawn by four camels, splendidly caparisoned, and each with a helmeted rider, while other servants in quaint and gorgeous costumes are in attendance. The effect is very striking.

[Illustration: CAMELS HARNESSED TO CARRIAGE.]

Besides these elaborate conveyances there are several kinds of palanquins for use on rough roads and in mountainous districts. Palkis are litters attached to a single long pole which is carried on the shoulders of two or more men. Dhoolies are square boxes, rather like sedan chairs, in which native ladies sometimes travel, and the ruth is a palanquin on wheels.

In India camels are ridden by both men and women. The latter often sit in kujawas, which are small square panniers made of wood and strong netting, and are hung on either side of the animal's back.

Horses, bullocks, and donkeys are also ridden, but the most imposing steed in India is the elephant, and very magnificent these great animals look when they are carrying native rajahs or taking part in some religious procession. On these occasions the howdah, which is like a palanquin perched on the elephant's back, is painted or covered with gold and silver, while the animal itself is often gaily coloured and has his tusks decorated with jewels and flowers.

Elephants, however, are not always decked in this fantastic fashion, and often the howdah is a very simple affair rather like a huge basket in appearance. Sometimes the mahout, as the keeper of the elephant is called, sits on the animal's broad neck or rides on a rough wooden saddle.

One of the most curious conveyances to be seen in India is a travelling theatre, which consists of a large, railed platform fastened across the backs of two elephants which walk side by side. This strange moving stage figures in wedding processions and other festivals, and during its passage through the streets of a town dancing girls give performances on the platform, which is brightly illuminated.

Elephants are strange animals and need to be very carefully trained and kindly treated. There is a story that once in Ceylon a newly-caught elephant, when required to draw a wagon, felt this to be such an indignity that he lay down between the shafts and died!

Perhaps his relations in India are not quite so proud and sensitive, for in that country we find them doing a great deal of hard work. They move large logs of wood, carry heavy burdens, and also drag cannon. At times, even, they may be seen taking the place of steam-engines and drawing railway trucks along the line. In fact, there is nothing in the way of hard and heavy work that the elephant cannot do.

CHAPTER V

THE CONVEYANCES OF CHINA AND JAPAN

One is always accustomed to think of China as a strange, topsy-turvy country, where everything is marvellous and unexpected, so that it is no surprise to find there many queer conveyances and modes of travel. Even in very early times China, or Tartary as it was called then, was looked upon as a veritable wonderland, and Marco Polo, who explored the country more than six hundred years ago, gives us a very interesting description of how the Emperor travelled when he went on one of his hunting expeditions. This is what he says:

"The Khan upon his journey is borne upon four elephants, in a fine parlour made of timber, lined inside with plates of beaten gold and outside with lions' skins. Sometimes, as they go along, and the Emperor from his chamber is discoursing with his nobles, one of the latter will exclaim, 'Sire! Look out for cranes!' Then the Emperor has the top of his chamber thrown back, and having seen the cranes, he casts one of his falcons, and often the quarry is struck in his sight, so that he himself has the most exquisite sport as he sits in his chamber or lies on his bed. I do not believe that there ever existed a man with such sport or enjoyment as he has."

Modern tourists in China cannot see quite such wonderful equipages as this, but the Emperor's state palanquin, which was still in use in 1880, was a very gorgeous affair, and it was carried by no less than sixteen bearers.

China has always been a land of ceremony, and very strict etiquette is maintained with regard to the conveyances of the mandarins. Sedan chairs are used, and these vary in colour, decoration, and number of carriers, according to the rank of the owner. If the mandarin is of a very high class he is accompanied on his journeys by a whole retinue of servants. One of these carries a large open umbrella, a second has a fan attached to a pole, while others bear tablets on which the insignia of his rank are displayed. It is a great offence if a man has more coolies in attendance than those to which he is entitled.

[Illustration: CHINESE COUNTRY CHAIR.]

In a wedding procession a beautiful palanquin is used to take the bride from her parents' house to the home of her future husband. It is painted red and ornamented with kingfishers' feathers. The little Chinese lady only travels once in this gorgeous conveyance. After her marriage she has to be content with an ordinary sedan chair, the curtains of which are always tightly drawn so that she can neither see nor be seen as she is carried through the streets.

[Illustration: MULE PALANQUIN.]

When an important mandarin travels everyone makes way for him and his imposing retinue, but with those of lower rank this is not the case, and it is one of the duties of his bearers to keep up a constant succession of loud shouts and commands such as "Mind your back!" "Move to the right!" "Get out of the way!" As may be imagined the streets of a Chinese town are very noisy, for they are narrow and crowded with a motley throng of people, among whom are porters with heavy packs on their shoulders, itinerant merchants carrying their wares in baskets slung on long poles, beggars, and children of all sizes and ages.

[Illustration: WHEELBARROW OMNIBUS.]

Besides these private sedan chairs there are others which may be hired. These are fairly comfortable, being provided with cushions and having a narrow shelf on either side on which the passenger can rest his arms. In country districts, however, the traveller has to be content with a simpler conveyance, consisting of a roughly made bamboo chair attached to long poles.

[Illustration: A TRAVELLING TRADESMAN.]

Sometimes much larger palanquins are seen. These will hold several people and are carried by two mules or ponies.

In China, rickshaws, which are wheeled chairs drawn by one or more coolies, are also used, their name coming from the Chinese word jin-li-che, which means "man-power-carriage." These little vehicles are convenient, but in many cities the streets are so narrow that they cannot be employed. Then it is that we find the quaint wheelbarrows, which are, perhaps, the strangest conveyances in the whole world. These wheelbarrows are used both to carry passengers and merchandise. Those intended for the former purpose have a very large wheel, on either side of which is a seat arranged rather in the fashion of an Irish jaunting car. Below the seat a cord is suspended on which the feet of the travellers can rest. Two, four, six, or even, sometimes, as many as eight native women can be carried, and the coolie who pushes the barrow has a strap across his shoulders which eases his arms of some of the weight. Occasionally hooded wheelbarrows are seen, and for them a second coolie in front is employed.

[Illustration: CHINESE CART.]

In Northern China donkeys and bullocks often drag these strange, one-wheeled carts. The roads are so bad that it is almost impossible for larger vehicles to be used, although sometimes we see a native family with their household goods moving from one place to another in a rough wagon drawn by an ox and a donkey harnessed side by side.

[Illustration: JAPANESE RICKSHAW.]

From China we travel still further east, and in Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, other curious and picturesque conveyances are to be seen by the fortunate tourist who is able to journey so far afield.

Horses are very little used in this country, and the Chinese jin-li-che is the principal conveyance, its name being now changed into jin-ri-che or jinricksha. Very charming these little vehicles look, as they careen through the streets of a town, or under the blossom-covered cherry-trees of a country road, especially if the wheels are painted scarlet, and if the passengers are two dainty little Jap maidens, with gay obis round their waists and flowers decking their smooth, dark heads.

The coolies who draw the jinrickshas are also picturesque in their blue cotton clothes, and in winter-time they wear most extraordinary straw cloaks which make them look like small moving haystacks.

Another interesting Japanese conveyance is the kago. This is a small, hammock-shaped litter made of cane and bamboo, suspended to a strong pole. There is an awning overhead, and on this the light luggage of the passenger--a pair of straw shoes, a bouquet of chrysanthemums, or a bundle tied up in a brightly coloured handkerchief--is carried.

The bearers of a kago are two stalwart, bare-legged men, and they always carry long sticks in their hands.

This curious type of litter is much used by the Japanese themselves, but not by Europeans, as the occupant of a kago has to sit with his knees doubled up in what seems to Western ideas a most uncomfortable position.

There are other strange conveyances to be seen in Japan, one of the most interesting of all being the Imperial chariot which has its place in great religious processions. It is drawn by a black bull, and is decorated with the Mikado's crest, a sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum.

CHAPTER VI

JOURNEYS THROUGH AFRICA

"From the Cape to Cairo." We have all heard of the wonderful railway which some day is to run all the way from Table Bay to Egypt, and is to carry passengers in ease and luxury through the heart of Darkest Africa. That will be in the future, no doubt; but, even if the railway were already finished, it would surely be more interesting to travel in the old-fashioned ways, and, even if it necessitated hardships and fatigue, see something of the great continent and of its inhabitants.

Let us suppose, then, that we start on our journey from Cape Town, and, ignoring the railway which already could carry us far into Central Africa, put the clock back for fifty years, or more, and engage one of the great bullock wagons in which the old colonists made their adventurous pilgrimages.

A traveller who journeyed through South Africa in 1846 gives an interesting account of his conveyance and experiences.

[Illustration: CAPE BULLOCK WAGON.]

"In travelling by wagon one gets along slowly," he says. "Twenty miles a day is reckoned moderate, and two and a half miles an hour is the usual rate of progress. Cooking utensils, as a kettle, a gridiron, and a pot, accompany the wagon. Bedding is also a part of the travelling appurtenances, and is either made up at night in the body of the wagon or in the open country, according to the weather."

This description sounds pleasant and comfortable enough, but the men and women who in those days set out across unexplored country in search of new homes often had to endure hardships and face terrible dangers, for the Kaffirs and Zulus were fierce and warlike, and they often attacked and murdered the newcomers.

As a safeguard against these enemies the colonists used to arrange their wagons at night in a circle, and within the primitive fort, or laager as it was called, they would make their camp and light watch-fires to frighten away lions and other beasts of prey.

South African wagons are very large and have canvas hoods. Whole families can travel in them comfortably, and sometimes as many as sixteen oxen are used.

North of Cape Colony is Natal, the oldest of the British possessions in South Africa, and now we will leave our quaint, old-world wagon and pay a visit to the port of Durban as it is to-day.

[Illustration: DURBAN RICKSHAW.]

Here we shall see careering along the streets or waiting to be hired, some very strange little vehicles indeed, and shall hardly recognise them at first as our old friends the rickshaws of Japan and Ceylon. When we look more closely, however, we shall see that the rickshaws themselves are just the same as those which speed along the red roads of Colombo or under the cherry blossoms of Yokohama.

It is the men who drag them that are extraordinary, for the Kaffir rickshaw boys of Durban wear the most amazing costumes and deck themselves out in queer finery of all sorts. Beads, scraps of ribbon, feathers, all these are pressed into the service, and very often as a finishing touch of grandeur the boys fasten buffalo horns on to their woolly heads.

Leaving Natal behind us, we will go up country beyond the reach of railway lines. There travellers have to make their journeys in Cape carts, which are two-wheeled vehicles drawn by a pair of mules and driven by a Basuto. These natives are among the finest drivers in the whole world, and they will whip up their mules and dash recklessly up hill and down dale, no matter how rough the road may be, or even, as often happens, if there is no road at all.

There is no brake to a Cape cart, and the harness is frequently rotten or mended with scraps of string or tape, but nothing seems to matter, and the Basuto will generally manage to bring his passengers and the piles of baggage safely to their destinations.

Occasionally in these districts a more ambitious conveyance is provided, this being a coach, much like the old stage coaches of England in appearance, drawn by ten mules instead of four smart, prancing horses.

Further north we notice many strange modes of travel, such as a white man riding a bullock with saddle, harness, and stirrups complete; or a Masai family on the move, the woman leading an ox which carries not only her husband but all the household goods and chattels.

At Beira we reach the boundaries of civilisation again, for here a little tramcar may be seen running through the streets. It is, however, rather a primitive affair and consists only of a light car or trolly, on which is room for one passenger, the whole being pushed along by a scantily dressed native.

We travel on northward again and reach Khartum, whence a finished section of the Cape to Cairo railway will carry us to Wadi Halfa. Here, as throughout Egypt, donkeys are an important means of transport, and very smart the little animals look with their red leather, humped saddles, large stirrups, and the blue bead necklaces which are worn to protect them from the Evil Eye. The poorer inhabitants of Egypt and the Sudan have to be content with more simply attired mounts, and they either use a rough pad as a saddle or else ride bare-back.

[Illustration: BEIRA TRAM.]

In Cairo, the old capital of Egypt, we find vehicles of all descriptions, for this city is a strange mixture of East and West. In the crowded streets motor-cars and buffaloes, splendid private carriages and long strings of clover-laden camels jostle each other, while steam tramcars carry tourists to the Pyramids and old Arabs on their tiny donkeys jog contentedly along the road in front of the great European hotels.

[Illustration: CAIRO CART.]

The equipage of a rich Egyptian or high official is an imposing sight in the streets of Cairo. It is preceded by two or more gaily clad servants, or saises, who run in front of the horses with long sticks in their hands and shout to the pedestrians and the more humble conveyances to get out of the way.

Among these latter, which halt and draw back against the wall at the sais's command, we see some of the most curious of all the vehicles of Egypt, the little flat, two-wheeled carts on which native women of the poorer classes are conveyed. These carts are drawn by a mule or donkey, led by an Arab, and each carries a group of crouching women, who sit closely together with their black veils drawn over their faces. "An Arab taking out his wives for an airing"--that is how tourists often describe these quaint vehicles, but really they are public conveyances, and the native women, having paid their fares, are going on shopping expeditions to the bazaars or to visit their friends in some distant part of the city.

Nowadays, however, these picturesque conveyances are beginning to be considered old-fashioned, and the natives crowd into the electric trams which run in all directions through the town and into the suburbs beyond.

Alexandria is even more up-to-date than Cairo, for there not only tramcars but motor-omnibuses are to be seen.

Morocco, another country of North Africa, although much nearer to Europe, is still very much behind the times, and therefore even more interesting, perhaps, than Algeria and Egypt. In Tangier, for instance, the streets are so steep and rough that only very primitive vehicles can be used, and most people, natives and Europeans alike, ride either on donkeys, mules, or ponies.

[Illustration: IN MOROCCO.]

The S�k, or market-place, in this city is most picturesque, for there can be seen groups of pack-mules, laden and ready to start off on some long journey; ponies with women sitting on strange saddles set sideways like chairs, and Arab chiefs mounted on their magnificent horses. The market-place itself is very curious, with its whitewashed and narrow gateways, through which the mules with their large panniers can scarcely pass.

CHAPTER VII

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 CAL�CHE.]

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 "cal�che."

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.]

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.

CHAPTER VIII

TRAVELLING IN THE WILDS

After seeing the strange conveyances and modes of travel in Europe and in the civilised countries of Asia, it will be interesting to leave the beaten tracks behind us altogether for a time. We will go beyond the high roads and the railways, and find out how people make journeys in the great wildernesses of the world, where travellers must be prepared to undergo discomforts and hardships, to meet with dangers, and, very often, to carry their lives in their hands.

If we open our atlases and turn to the maps of Africa, America, Asia, and Australia, we shall find that in each continent there are blank spaces. Sometimes these are called deserts or forests, but often we can only guess at the character of the country from the fact of there being no rivers marked and very few names of towns and cities.

The most famous of all deserts is the Great Sahara, which extends for thousands of miles across the north of Africa. Most people picture it as a huge sandy plain, where there is no water and no sign of life or vegetation; but, in reality, although there are districts where the shifting sandhills stretch away as far as the eye can see, a vast part of the Sahara consists of a stony tableland covered with a scanty growth of low, thorny bushes.

In the deserts there are, moreover, many fertile spots looking like exquisite little green islands set in the midst of a glowing, yellow sea. They are called oases, and are found where there are wells or pools of water. Arabs live in these places, cultivating the land and building mud-houses, while other tribes spend their time in wandering about the desert, seeking food for their animals and trading in the scattered towns and villages. These wanderers, or nomads, with their camels, horses, and herds of sheep and goats, may be seen slowly moving across the great sunburnt plain and pitching their brown tents at night among the sand-dunes.

[Illustration: MIXED TRANSPORT IN NIGERIA.]

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.

The nomadic Arabs travel in large parties called caravans, for there are brigands in the Sahara who would rob and murder lonely wayfarers. The men in the caravan often ride, and their horses are considered the finest in the whole world. The Arabs prize these horses highly and treat them well, never allowing them to be teased by the children, and, at the end of a long day's journey, giving them their meal of milk and dates before they eat anything themselves.

Horses, however, are only used for riding, and all the hard work is done by the camels, "the ships of the desert," as they are called. It is a strange sight to see a great caravan crossing the desert, sometimes as many as a thousand camels marching along in single file, each with a heavy load on his back.

Camels are strange animals, for although they are strong and have wonderful powers of endurance, they are surly, intractable, and even more obstinate than mules. Occasionally a camel will consider that he is overloaded, and lying down will snarl at his driver and refuse to move. Blows and commands are useless in such a case, but if the driver pretends to remove something from the burden the animal is often completely deceived, and thinking that he has outwitted his master and gained a victory, will rise to his feet and start off contentedly on the journey.

One of the greatest dangers of desert travel is lack of water, for wells are very few and far apart. Camels are particularly suited to these conditions, as they can live for several days without drinking, and when no water is forthcoming, will plod patiently on and on, until their strength is exhausted and they fall down beneath their heavy loads.

[Illustration: CAMEL WITH BRIDAL BOWER.]

It will be noticed in a caravan that some of the camels carry extraordinary fan-shaped palanquins on their backs. These contain the Arab ladies, whose religion obliges them to be veiled, and who can thus travel securely screened from sight. In the deserts of Asia the women ride in a much more airy and comfortable fashion, being provided with cushioned panniers slung on either side of the camel's back and sheltered by a light awning. On the occasion of a wedding in the Nile Delta district, the bride is carried on a camel in a curious erection shaped like a Red Indian wigwam and decorated with a large tuft of palm-leaves.

From the deserts we go to the great tropical forests, and there, although there is plenty of water and shelter from the fierce rays of the sun, travellers have to encounter new difficulties, new hardships, and new dangers.

[Illustration: CARRIERS IN THE FOREST.]

Those of us who have seen only woods in our own islands can hardly imagine what one of the great forests of Central Africa, America, or Asia is like, with its huge trees, strange plants, and hot, steamy atmosphere, dank with the smell of rotting vegetation and stagnant water, or heavy with the overpowering fragrance of some tropical blossom. It is almost dark, for the foliage is dense, and the trees are, moreover, hung with matted curtains of creepers, while below is a tangled undergrowth, so tall and thick that pathways have to be cut through it inch by inch.

[Illustration: PALANQUIN FOR ARAB WOMEN.]

The travellers must needs walk single file through these narrow tracks, and they must be always armed and on their guard against the dangerous wild animals that live in those weird, gloomy jungles. Leopards, fierce gorillas, and rhinoceros, all have their homes in those dark thickets, and there are besides great herds of elephants that if alarmed will charge through the forest and trample the intruders underfoot.

In addition to these perils the natives are often unfriendly, and there have been many instances of cruelty and murder.

In these districts it is, of course, impossible to use wagons or any large vehicles, and the climate is unhealthy for horses and cattle. Negroes, therefore, act as carriers and march along the narrow paths with heavy loads on their heads. These natives are very strong, and may be seen carrying large bales, boxes, and even bicycles through the jungle.

The Europeans of the party either walk too, or are carried in hammocks slung on poles. An awning is fixed over the hammock, and the occupant can lie down comfortably while he is borne along by two or more negro porters. Wounded men or those ill with fever are often taken for many miles in this fashion, and in Nigeria special hospital hammocks are provided for this purpose on which the familiar red cross may be seen.

[Illustration: MONO-RAIL WORKED BY NATIVES.]

The natives of these tropical forests either carry their merchandise and other burdens themselves, or have light conveyances suited to the narrow tracks that are the only roads of the country. The Sobo negroes of West Africa have a very ingenious arrangement, and often three or four of them may be seen walking in single file and carrying a long pole on their shoulders. From this pole are hung jars, bundles, and baskets of fruit and vegetables.

In another district a still more curious device is used. This is a single railway line running between two towns, on which light trucks can travel. These trucks have two wheels each, one behind the other, and to each truck is fastened a pole which projects on the left-hand side. Negroes walk beside the line, holding the poles and thus driving the cars along.

In regions where the forest is less dense and the climate more dry and healthy, animals can be used, and sometimes strange teams are seen--camels, donkeys, and oxen being all pressed into the transport service.

CHAPTER IX

THROUGH ICE AND SNOW

In the Arctic regions, far beyond the reach of railways, and where even the sea is frozen during many months of the year, we find strange conveyances and means of travel, for in those desolate lands there are no roads. Even if a track is made it may, within a few hours, be covered with drifting snow and entirely lost.

Horses and oxen cannot live in the bitter climate of the north, so carriages, or any other wheeled conveyances, are useless. Travellers, therefore, must needs adapt themselves to the conditions of weather and country, and either invent new means of locomotion or else borrow ideas from the original inhabitants of those bleak, snow-clad lands.

The first Arctic explorers described their experiences in the Polar regions, and life among the Esquimaux has changed very little since those pioneer days when Frobisher and Sir Humphrey Gilbert set sail in search of a new route to India and the East.

"They are a very strong people and warlike," the historian of Frobisher's expedition wrote in 1577. "They go in coats made from the skins of beasts. They travel in sledges drawn by dogs, and move from place to place in quest of food."

The dogs seen then by the adventurous Englishmen and still used by the natives are sturdy, rough-haired animals, rather like large shaggy collies in appearance. They are very strong and hardy, and are able to drag heavy loads for long distances. Esquimaux sledges were often nearly twelve feet long and had runners made of the jawbones of whales or of pieces of wood strongly lashed together.

[Illustration: ICE-BOAT.]

Arctic travellers soon found that if they wished to journey far into the Polar regions they must needs adopt native customs, so they bought sledges and either dragged them themselves or hired guides and teams of dogs. It is no easy matter to drive one of these Esquimaux sledges, for the dogs are harnessed in single file and are only controlled by the voice of the driver or by the long flexible whip which he carries. The speed at which a sledge can be drawn depends very much on the condition of the snow, but if it is hard and smooth forty or fifty miles can be covered in a single day.

[Illustration: REINDEER AND SLEDGE.]

After Sir John Franklin's expedition had disappeared in the unknown Arctic world, many parties set out in search of him. The leader of one of these, Captain Austin, tried a new means of progression, and on one occasion attached sails and large kites to his sledges. This experiment seems to have met with some success, but we do not hear of it being attempted again, although ice-boats are sailed as an amusement during the winter months on the frozen lakes and rivers of Canada and the United States. Snow-shoes are widely used in Canada during the winter. Hunters and trappers make long journeys over the snow in search of fur or visiting their traps.

[Illustration: EXPLORERS DRAGGING SLEDGE.]

Of late years explorers have turned their attention to the South Pole, and in Antarctic regions not only dogs but small, hardy ponies have been employed.

In Lapland, the most northern country of Europe, the natives keep large herds of reindeer, and they use these animals to draw their sledges, which are shaped like boats, being flat at the back and with high-pointed prows. The reindeer are harnessed by leather traces fastened to their collars, and the reins are tied to their horns. The harness is hung with small bells which jingle merrily as the sledge flies across the hard snow. Old writers say that these animals were so swift that they could carry their masters for two hundred miles in a single day. This, of course, is merely a traveller's tale, but they can really go fifty or sixty miles in twenty-four hours.

[Illustration: INDIAN TRAPPER ON SNOW-SHOES.]

Sledges are used in other European countries and especially in Russia, where the winters are long and hard. The Russian sledges are very picturesque, with their four horses harnessed abreast and their drivers wearing great padded coats and fur gloves to protect them from the intense cold. Sledging in Russia is, however, not without its dangers, and there are many stories of travellers who have been frozen to death, and of others who have been overtaken and killed by wolves as they drove across the snow-covered plains and through the forests.

A writer of fifty years ago tells us of an exciting experience which he and a fellow-traveller had when journeying in the Volga district after a heavy snowstorm.

It was early morning when they started, and the road was a very lonely one. They had not gone far when six large wolves were seen, and although these animals were frightened away by a handful of burning hay being flung among them--for wolves cannot bear the sight of fire--they soon returned. Others joined them, and before long the sledge was tearing across the snow with a whole pack in close pursuit. The horses were terrified and the position seemed a hopeless one, but fortunately the travellers were armed, and when they had managed to shoot four of the wolves the others dispersed.

Sledges are also used in Austria, Germany, and Holland, and in many museums quaint old Dutch sledges can be seen, shaped like armchairs and richly gilded and painted.

These dainty sleds were pushed, not drawn, and in them the fair-haired Dutch maidens of former days were taken for merry excursions by their brothers and boy friends along the smooth highways of the frozen canals.

[Illustration: ENGLISH SLEDGE.]

In England the winters are very seldom cold enough for sledging to be indulged in, but still it is not entirely unknown. An English sledge is, as a rule, more lightly built than those of other countries and is higher from the ground. It is drawn by one or more horses and the harness is hung with little bells.

[Illustration: A HAPPY PARTY IN AUSTRALIA.]

We most of us think of Australia as a very warm, almost a tropical land, and it is quite a surprise to learn that even our cousins "Down Under" can sometimes enjoy real winter sports. Our illustration, however, shows us that this is the case, for here we see a picture of a sledge at Kosciusko, New South Wales, taken, perhaps, on some cold June mid-winter day. Kosciusko is situated in one of the mountainous districts of Australia, and there ice and snow--as we see in the picture--are by no means unknown. This sledge is low on the ground with two seats, one behind the other, and it is drawn by a pair of sturdy ponies.

CHAPTER X

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.

CHAPTER XI

TRAVEL OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

At the present time, when England, and indeed almost the whole of the civilised world, is covered with a network of railways, and the cuttings, the tunnels, and the high embankments seem almost to be physical features of the landscape that we see around us, it is difficult to realise that a hundred years ago none of these things were in existence. Our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers, as we have seen, had to be content with very different modes of travel, and would have been amazed if they had been told that it would be possible before very long to make the journey from London to York in a few hours.

It is said that Lord Worcester in the reign of Charles II. was one of the first scientists to experiment with steam engines, and about a century later James Watt improved and utilised this invention. We have all heard of the little Scotch boy who used to sit watching the steam coming from the spout of a boiling kettle, who puzzled his head over its power and who, when he grew up, worked hard in order to earn money and be able to carry out his experiments.

The first railway was opened in 1825, but before that the steam engine invented by Watt had been in use for some time in collieries. One of these early engines, which was called "Puffing Billy," can still be seen in a London museum.

The railway trains of ninety years ago, wonderful as they were considered then, were very different from those of to-day, for there were no comfortable carriages with windows and cushioned seats, and the passengers had to travel in open wagons. There were no waiting rooms or platforms either, and the speed was very moderate, fifteen to twenty miles an hour being thought marvellous and even dangerous.

This is what a writer says in the year 1837:

"The length of the Liverpool railway is thirty-one miles, and the fact that passengers are regularly conveyed that distance by locomotive engines in one and a half to two hours produced an extraordinary sensation."

[Illustration: EARLY ENGINE.]

As the years went on, railways and the trains which ran on them improved very quickly and stage coaches became hopelessly old-fashioned, but for some time a railway journey was something of an adventure and many strange plans were made in order to prevent accidents.

One of the most eccentric of these ideas was that the last carriage or van on a train should have a roof sloping backwards towards the ground and fitted with railway lines, so that if the train to which it was attached were overtaken by another, there would be no collision, for the second engine would run up the sloping roof and travel along on the top of the slower train.

[Illustration: WHITE SUDAN TRAIN.]

Nowadays, railway travelling has become much safer and also more luxurious, and our trains, with their sleeping berths and restaurant cars, would have been considered marvels by the early passengers who crowded contentedly into the jolting open trucks of 1839. One of the most interesting of modern trains is to be seen on the Sudan line. It is painted white for the sake of coolness and has wooden venetian blinds instead of windows.

[Illustration: MOUNTAIN RAILWAY.]

At first it was considered impossible for railways to be constructed except on level ground, but difficulties were gradually overcome and for many years there have been trains running up the Rigi and other mountains. Now a line has been made to the summit of the Jung Frau, which is over thirteen thousand feet high, and by it tourists can be taken far into the region of perpetual snow.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century a new power began to be used, and we hear of locomotives driven not by steam but by electricity. Now, although steam has not been ousted from the field, there are many electric trains, and in almost every city of Europe electric trams run through the streets and often far out into the country beyond.

Another invention of the nineteenth century which made, as time went on, a new means of travel, was the bicycle, but although the first of these machines appeared more than a hundred years ago, they were very strange-looking contrivances indeed, and were considered ridiculous and useless.

[Illustration: HIGH BICYCLE.]

The first of all cycles--if it can be dignified by such a name--made it d�but in 1808 in Paris. It was called a "hobby-horse" and consisted of two wheels placed one behind the other, and connected by a bar on which was a small saddle. The rider kept his feet on the ground, and when he came to a hill raised them and let the machine carry him down. At corners, however, he had to lift up the hobby-horse and turn it round.

The dandy-horse, which had a movable front wheel, came next, and then there was a long succession of strange inventions, many of which hailed from America. One of these consisted of a large rocking-horse mounted on two wheels, and another had one very large wheel in which the rider sat. Some of these machines were propelled with the feet, others with the hands. Croft's invention was punted along by two long poles in the hands of the rider, and Mey's machine had a large front wheel in which a dog ran round like a squirrel in a cage.

While experiments were being made with these extraordinary contrivances, more practical bicycles were already in use. They were called velocipedes, or bone-shakers, and very wonderful they were thought to be, although to our modern eyes the high bicycle of thirty years ago with its large front wheel on which the rider was perched and small back wheel, seems almost as curious as the quaint hobby-horse of earlier times.

[Illustration: EARLY CYCLE.]

The present form of bicycle was first made towards the end of the last century, after the invention of pneumatic tyres, but motor-cycles are now beginning to take its place, and we are all familiar with these wonderful little vehicles, many of which have a side-car for an extra passenger, and are able to travel at the rate of thirty, forty, or even fifty miles an hour.

[Illustration: EARLY MOTOR-CAR.]

From cycles we go to motor-cars, and now when the roads are thronged with these swift conveyances it is strange to think that for a long time "horseless carriages" were considered an impossibility and spoken of with jeering incredulity.

More than a hundred years ago, however, a Frenchman invented a steam carriage which could travel at the rate of two miles an hour, and during the next half-century other vehicles of the sort were patented besides several very curious mechanical carriages.

A picture and description of one of these appears in a magazine of the time, and we see that it was a large carriage with four wheels. One man sits in front, holding what are apparently quite useless reins, while a second man, standing behind in a kind of box, works a machine with his feet and so propels the heavy conveyance along. Another and an even more extraordinary-looking carriage was invented by a Mr. Boller in 1804. It was propelled by a very complicated arrangement of large and small cog-wheels.

Progress was made during the next few years, and in 1829 two inventors had constructed a steam carriage which could travel at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. A little later we learn that there was a regular service of steam coaches running between Gloucester and Cheltenham.

After that, however, many years elapsed before horseless carriages came into general use, one reason being that such conveyances were heavily taxed and subjected to many rules. It was not until 1896 that these were altered, and then immediately there was a change and cars driven by steam, electricity, and petrol came into use.

CHAPTER XII

THE TRAVEL OF TO-MORROW

The travel of to-morrow! It is a fascinating subject, for, as we look backward through the last century and see the marvellous progress that has been made, it is impossible to believe that now we have come to a standstill. How then shall we travel in the future? Will it be in some new form of railway train or motor-car, with increased speed and added comfort? Or shall we leave solid earth behind us altogether and make our journeys in great airships and aeroplanes?

We will begin with the more commonplace methods, and consider the possibilities of improvements and innovations in railway travel.

Lately a great deal has been said and written about the mono-rail, and it seems quite likely that alterations will take place in this direction, for a single-line railway is comparatively cheap to construct, and has many other advantages, among them that of greatly increased speed. It is estimated that this could easily reach two miles a minute.

In Africa we saw a very primitive form of mono-railway, and there is another in Algeria, where the trucks or baskets filled with agricultural produce hang on either side of a single line and are drawn along by mules.

A real mono-railway with engines, railway carriages, and trucks is already in existence in Ireland, where it runs between Listowel and Ballybunion. The line is raised some feet from the ground, and is about 10 miles in length. The engine is a very curious-looking machine, with a boiler on each side and two funnels. This is arranged so that the weight is evenly balanced. There are also methods by which the trains on a mono-railway may be steadied by means of a wonderful contrivance called a gyroscope.

Closely allied to the single-line railway is the hanging railway, which was first invented to carry loads of merchandise or minerals across rivers or over rough forest lands where an ordinary line would be difficult and expensive to construct. There is one of these hanging railways in Rhodesia, where a strong wire crosses from bank to bank of a river, and carries a chair-shaped seat which can hold two passengers. This is dragged backwards and forwards by means of a second wire.

[Illustration: MONO-RAIL CAR, WITH GYROSCOPE.]

Sometimes, instead of wire, rope is used, and these rope railways can be seen in use at many of the mines in South Africa.

Other and more elaborate railways in the air have been made in Germany, and there is one for passengers running between Barmen and Elberfield. In this case the single rail is raised on high trestles, and the carriage, which looks very much like a large tramcar, runs along the line suspended beneath the trestles.

Then, too, we may in the future have railways that will take us across the English Channel, either through a great tunnel or over a bridge, reaching, as was proposed in 1884, from Folkestone to Cape Grisnez.

A third plan that has been suggested for crossing to France is that of a submarine bridge, upon which a curious construction or platform would run, and on this the trains themselves could be taken from shore to shore, while still another proposal was that large ferry-steamers should be built, on the lower decks of which the trains could be carried.

And now we will leave the earth and look at the pictures of airships and the wonderful aeroplanes, which, although improvements are being made every day, can already travel at an almost incredible speed and with a security that only a little while ago would have been considered quite impossible. Nowadays air travel is not only a possibility but an accomplished fact, and it is hard to realise that it has come about during the last twenty years, and that before then practical flying machines were unknown.

[Illustration: OVERHEAD TROLLEY.]

From very early times, however, inventors and scientists have dreamed and experimented, and no less than seven hundred years ago, Roger Bacon, one of the most learned men of his day, seems to have looked down through the centuries and to have actually seen the aeroplanes with which we are now familiar.

"There may be made a flying instrument," he says, "so that a man sitting in the midst of the instrument and turning some mechanism may move some artificial wings so that they may beat the air like a bird in flight."

It was a strange prophecy, but in those far-off times--the dark ages we call them--men had already fixed their hopes on flight, and school children were trained in the use of wings as in that of the globes.

We are not told what advantages this curious accomplishment gave to the little boys and girls of the thirteenth century, and, indeed, it may have brought them ill-fortune, for in those days inventors were often accused of witchcraft, and new ideas were looked upon with suspicion. Even centuries later, when the first balloons were causing great excitement in England, many people thought that it was wrong to spurn the laws of nature by attempting to fly.

[Illustration: MONOPLANE, THE FIRST TYPE TO CROSS THE CHANNEL.]

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries some very strange flying machines were made, and even before that time, in the reign of James IV. of Scotland, we find that "The Abbot of Tungland tuik in hand to flie with wingis." The bold Churchman, however, did not succeed in his rash venture, but fell from the wall of Stirling Castle and broke his thigh.

In 1709 another monk planned a wonderful flying ship which was to carry twelve men besides stores of food, and about sixty years later a Frenchman made himself "A whirl of feathers, curiously interlaced and extending gradually at suitable distances in a horizontal direction from his head to his feet." In this eccentric costume the would-be bird-man fluttered down from a height of seventy feet and escaped uninjured.

[Illustration: WATERPLANE, BIPLANE, AND SCOUT BALLOON.]

The makers of balloons, meanwhile, met with more success, and they bravely experimented with their frail contrivances, which at first were filled with heated air and necessitated a fire in the basket-work car, fed with fuel of chopped straw. As may be imagined, many accidents occurred, but the inventors went on their way undaunted, and in the middle of the nineteenth century we find a man named Nadar constructing an enormous balloon called the "Giant," which seems to have been the forerunner of the great airships of to-day. This monster would, we hear, have exactly fitted into the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. It had a smaller balloon attached to it, and below both a car fitted with wheels. This was divided into compartments for the captain and the passengers, with beds, baggage, and provisions, while a printing office and a photographer's room were included.

Nadar's ambitions, however, did not stop at this marvel. Indeed, the "Giant" was only intended to be a means of raising funds for the making of a flying machine, which was to be called the aeronef and have wings and a screw propeller.

The difficulty then, and for many years afterwards, was to make an engine which at the same time should be sufficiently strong and yet light. It was not until another fifty years had passed that this problem was solved and then we find the modern aeroplanes and hydroplanes being gradually developed and improved.

In 1909 a French aviator crossed the Channel for the first time, and since then the progress has been extraordinary, so that now we think little of feats which a dozen years ago would have been considered quite outside the bounds of possibility.

Side by side with the aeroplanes, dirigible balloons have been developed, and we can hardly doubt that in the future this mode of travel will come to be as safe and almost as commonplace as our railways and motor-cars of to-day.

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HAPPY HOMES

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By A. A. METHLEY, F.R.G.S.

Illustrated, with colour and numerous black and white illustrations by W. H. HOLLOWAY.

Every English child believes that a British home is the nicest in the world; but this interesting book contains much that is fascinating and strange in its descriptions and pictures of dwellings in which boys and girls live in other lands.

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