316 
MOUNTAIN ARTILLERY TRANSPORT. 
small cart-saddle girth, backhand, breastplate, and crupper; such 
barrows were found useful for narrow paths and the trenches of the 
attack, or for conveying any individual weight too heavy for a single 
horse ; such as a small piece of ordnance, standing carriage, large 
casks of provisions, &c. The system seems to have been used with 
considerable success during the expedition, as further designs were 
formed for a double barrow consisting of three shafts to be carried by 
four horses in pairs, but neither time nor materials admitted of their 
being put into immediate execution. The “ takhtrewan ” now used in 
Persia and Turkey is employed in parts of the country where wheeled 
transport is quite unknown and where pack transport, in which camels, 
horses, and mules are used, is the universal method of moving goods 
from one place to another. The principal use of the “ takhtrewan ” 
is to carry passengers, and in this respect corresponds to the palanquin 
in use in India, with the exception that horses are used instead of 
coolies. The carriage designed for this purpose consists of a strong 
lower framework supporting the body of the vehicle, which has two 
sliding doors and two small windows at either side. The dimensions 
of the body of one of these carriages measured 6 feet long, 3 feet 6 
inches broad, and 5 feet to 5 feet 6 inches high, with an arched roof 
on the top. 
The shafts project at either end for 5 feet, making a total length of 
16 feet for the whole carriage. The shafts are shod at the ends with 
iron, to which are fixed loops used as fastenings for the backhands, 
which consist of short lengths of chain. 
No special harness is used, the ordinary Arab pack-saddle being 
placed on the mule^s back and the chain put over it. 
This particular kind of pack-saddle is higher at the ends than in the 
middle, so that there is no tendency for the chain to slip to the rear. 
The pack has a breeching and breast-plate, which keep it in its place. 
Two people ride in one of these “ takhtrewans,” but the motion is 
decidedly unpleasant, and on a rough road resembles that of a ship in 
a storm. 
Besides being used for carrying passengers, this mode of transport is 
employed for carrying large articles which it would be inconven¬ 
ient to divide into suitable loads for single pack animals. In such 
a case there is no carriage, but simply a wooden platform or barrow 
with the shafts projecting at either end, on which is fastened the article 
required to be carried. 
In one instance a caravan was met in which one of the loads was the 
body of a large brougham without its wheels, which was being carried 
in this fashion by two horses. The brougham was fastened to a 
roughly-made platform, and was wending its way up a very rough 
mountain pass, and seemed to travel easily and well. I can only guess 
at the weight of such an article, but, including the framework, it would 
be 8 or 9 cwt. There were no spare horses, and it travelled the 
ordinary stages. 
Perhaps a more interesting example of this mode of transport was 
in the case of a gun met with in a hill fort. The country round was 
entirely without roads suited for wheeled traffic and very mountainous, 
