SOUTH AMERICA. 287 



boots, make use of the skin of the hind legs of the 

 horse; the joint answering the purpose of a heel, and 

 furnishing a very cheap kind of suwarrow. 



Besides the clumsy carts of which I have before 

 spoken, and the class of people that I have just de- 

 scribed, my attention was much attracted by the ap. 

 pearance of the great ox wagons, used in the trade 

 with the interior. They are of an enormous size, 

 and are the most clumsy contrivance imaginable. Five 

 or six of these in a line, are sometimes seen groaning 

 along the street, the wheels making a noise like the 

 gates on their hinges of Milton^s pandemonium. The 

 wagoners use no tar to prevent them from making this 

 harsh noise, as they say it is music to the oxen. 

 These are, in general, uncommonly large, and the 

 finest that I ever saw. Their yokes, in proportion, 

 are as ponderous as the wagon, and in drawing, 

 nothing is used but the raw hide strongly twisted. In 

 fact, this is the only kind of gears, or traces, used for 

 all descriptions of carriages. To each of these enor 

 moQs wagons there are, generally, at least three dri- 

 vers. One sits in the wagon, with a long rod or goad 

 in his hand, and above his head, suspended in slings, 

 there is a bamboo or cane, at least thirty feet in length, 

 as supple as a fishing rod, so that it can, occasionally, be 

 used to quicken the pace of the foremost pair of oxen, 

 which are fastened to the first by a long trace of twist- 

 ed hide. The interval between the different pairs of 

 oxen, is rendered necessary by the difficulty of cross- 

 ing small rivers, whose bottoms are bad, and which 

 are subject to sudden rises. Another driver takes his 

 seat on the yoke, between the heads of the second pair 

 of oxen, being also armed with a goad, with its point 



