203 PRIMITIVE CARTS. 



whole is fashioned into an irregular circle. 

 A ertide pine or cottonwood pole serves fot 

 the axle-tree, upon Avhich is tied a rough frame 

 of the same material for a body. In the con- 

 struction of these carretas the use of iron is, 

 for the most part, wholly dispensed with ; in 

 fact, nothing is more common than a cart, a 

 plow, and even a mill, without a particle of 

 iron or other metal about them. To tliis huge 

 truckle it is necessary to hitch at least three 

 or four yokes of oxen ; for even a team of six 

 would find it difficult to draw the load of a 

 single pah with an ordinary cart. The labor 

 of the oxen is much increased by the Mexi- 

 can mode of harnessing, wliich appears pe- 

 cuUarly odd to a Yankee. A rough pole 

 serves for a yoke, and, with the middle tied 

 to the cart-tongue, the extremities are placed 

 across the heads of the oxen behind the horns, 

 tq which they are firmly lashed with a stout raw- 

 Idde thong. Thus the head is maintained in 

 a fixed position, and they pull, or rather push 

 by the force of tlie neck, which, of course, is 

 kept continually strained upwards. 



Rough 'and uncouth as these carretas al- 

 ways are, they constitute nevertheless the 

 'pleasure-caiTJnges' of the rancheros, whose 

 families are conveyed in them to the towns, 

 whether to market, or to Jiestas, or on other 

 joyftd occasions. It is truly amusing io see 

 these rude veliicles bouncing along upon their 

 irregularly rounded wheels, like a limping 

 bullock, and making the hills and valleys 



