Taxdem Sledge. 545 



the carriage, a tandem whip is requisite. Coloured blankets may fill the place of those 

 splendid bear or buffalo robes which are so essential a part of the display in sledge-driving 

 countries ; there are very few seasons in England when it is worth while for persons of moderate 

 means to prepare for a sledge drive as a matter of fashion, and furs laid by are very apt to 

 get moth-eaten. On the other hand, at an insignificant expense, a vehicle with harness may 

 be got up and put by in a country house which will afford a great deal of social fun when 

 a heavy fall of snow has stopped skating, after a frost has stopped hunting. If there is in 

 the family a mighty hunter from tropical or hyperborean regions, all his spoils of the chase 

 may be utilised with excellent effect, whether of tiger, deer, bear, or buffalo. You may either 

 drive one horse, or a pair to a pole, or in the Russian fashion, with one in shafts, united by 

 a wooden arch painted bright blue or red, and hung with bells, and the other galloping 

 alongside him harnessed to an outrigger. 



Tandem is a favourite style in Canada, but it must require an exceedingly steady and 

 staunch leader and a clever whip ; he sits very low if he sits alongside the lady, and he is 

 not very high if he stands behind and drives over the heads of two. 



LAMPS. 



Carriage-lamps are at the present day almost universally fitted for burning wax or 

 composition candles, the manufacture of which last kind has been carried to great perfection 

 since all customs and excise duties affecting them have been removed. The use of oil-lamps 

 in private carriages is almost confined to four-horse drags and hansoms. 



When candles arc used, the owner should insist that in winter the lamps be always 

 supplied with new candles whenever they are used, and that the springs on which the 

 candles rest be regularly examined ; otherwise he may find that lights are wanting when 

 most urgently required. The value of lamps is not so much to show the coachman the road 

 as to prevent careless drivers from running into him on a dark or foggy night. 



AXLES. 

 Although Collinge's axles, which will travel without fresh oiling for three months, are 

 the best for civilised countries, a simpler plan — the old mail-coach axle — will be found more 

 suitable for the colonies, or in the wild out-of-the-way tracts of Europe, where the niceties 

 of mechanical construction are unknown. 



SHAFTS. 

 In describing the manufacture of a brougham, tubular iron shafts were recommended. It 

 is, however, right to mention that there is one objection to their use — viz., if by any means 

 strained or twisted, they cannot be returned to their original shape in the coachmaker's 

 shop, as tough wood can, but must be sent back to the manufacturer for that purpose 

 under any circumstances. It is a good plan to keep a pair of spare shafts in the coach- 

 house. The latest improvement in shafts of four-wheeled carriages is a combination of 

 wood and iron. Lancewood are the best for a two-wheeled carriage. 



POLE. 

 The pole for a pair of horses should be made of the best ash — hickory has been used, 

 but it is the opinion of eminent coach-builders that hickory poles do not wear so well in 

 R R R 



