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.

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.

On this occasion Indian guides were employed to lead the way across the passes of the Rocky Mountains, and these guides proved to be untrustworthy and treacherous. One night, when the camp was pitched in a forest, nearly all the horses were stolen, together with the stores, and then, when the emigrants were in this helpless position, they were attacked by a band of Indians. After that, the story seems like one of the cinema plays with which nowadays we are all familiar, for the writer tells how he and another man were chosen to ride for help to a neighbouring fort, how they were pursued by the savages, how they escaped, and how, finally, when they returned, it was to find that they were too late, and that during their absence the wagons had been burnt and the hapless people murdered.

Even disasters like this did not, however, daunt the brave adventurers, and thirteen years later we hear of a huge convoy starting westward from Chicago. On this occasion many, who could not afford to purchase wagons, set out on foot for the long journey of more than a thousand miles, dragging their possessions on little two-wheeled handcarts.

Times have changed now, and there are many railways crossing the great continent. The Indians have disappeared from the forests, and in the Rocky Mountains gay parties of holidaymakers can be seen in the summer-time, riding in the same woods where, a century ago, their ancestors, grimly alert and with guns in their hands toiled along on the weary journey that was to bring them at last to the wonderful "El Dorado" of their dreams, where new homes and fabulous riches were to be found.

At the present time in the western districts the men are great riders, and extraordinary feats of horsemanship are common among the cowboys on some of the cattle ranches.

The vehicles of modern North America are much like those of European countries, but mention must be made of the curious cars used to show off the paces of the celebrated trotting horses. These little two-wheeled carts are very lightly made, and seem to consist merely of two wheels, a small seat, and a pair of shafts.

In Quebec, Canada, a very smart cab may be seen. It is of picturesque appearance, on two high wheels, and bears the French name of "calèche."

In South America there are not many curious vehicles. A great part of the country is covered with tropical forests, and in the south riding is the principal means of getting from place to place. Mules and oxen are used as beasts of burden, and in some districts quaint-looking animals called llamas are also employed. These creatures, which most of us have seen in zoological gardens, are very hardy and can carry heavy loads on their backs.

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.

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.

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.

An Australian horseman "up country" is a very picturesque figure with his slouched felt hat, his rolled scarlet blanket, and the tin billy-can dangling from his saddle.

There are not, as yet, many railways in the more thinly inhabited districts of Australia, and travellers drive in coaches drawn by two or four horses. Other vehicles are the buggies, light two-wheeled conveyances which can be used where there are few roads and the tracks through the bush are rough and steep.