XXXV 

 THE TRANSPORT RIDER 



THE wagon is one evolved in South Africa, a 

 long, heavily constructed affair, with ingen- 

 ious braces and timbers so arranged as to furnish 

 the maximum clearance with the greatest facility 

 for substitution in case the necessity for repairs 

 might arise. The whole vehicle can be dismounted 

 and reassembled in a few hours; so that unfordable 

 streams or impossible bits of country can be crossed 

 piecemeal. Its enormous wheels are set wide apart. 

 The brake is worked by a crank at the rear; like a 

 reversal of the starting mechanism of a motor car. 

 Bolted to the frame on either side between the front 

 and rear wheels are capacious cupboards, and two 

 stout water kegs swing to and fro when the craft 

 is under way. The net carrying capacity of such a 

 wagon is from three to four thousand pounds. 



This formidable vehicle in our own case was 

 drawn by a team of eighteen oxen. The biggest 

 brutes, the wheelers, were attached to a tongue; 

 all the others pulled on a long chain. The only 



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