Chap. III. THE CARAVAX. 225 
CHAPTER III. 
The Caravan, its Arrangements — Waggons, Freight and Requirements for 
the Journey — The Commander and his Men — Anglo-Americans and 
Mexicans — Man and Animal — Characteristic of the Mule — Aristocrats, 
Mes-alliances, Parvenus, and Rabble in the Animal Kingdom — The First 
Breaking-in and Harnessing Wild Mules — The Corral — Order of Journey 
and Prarie Roads — The Camp and its Comforts — Night Watches, and 
Usages of Caravan Life — Astronomical and Musical Amusements — Dan- 
gerous Charms of the Wilderness. 
Before inviting the reader to accompany me on the long 
journey from Missouri to Chihuahua, I must endeavour to 
give him a general idea of the arrangement and locomo- 
tion of a caravan on its journey through the western 
wildernesses of the North American continent. 
The waggons generally carry from five to six thousand 
pounds weight, and are yoked with five pairs, if drawn, like 
ours, by mules. A single driver guides them, now seated 
on the saddled mule, now walking by the side. In difficult 
places the drivers assist one another, and sometimes the 
teams have to be doubled : that is to say, the three or 
four fore pairs of the one waggon are attached in a line 
to the other, in order to get the waggons over some height 
or through some deep morass. On these occasions sometimes 
eight or ten men are engaged about a single waggon. As 
the caravan must keep together, it can only proceed, under 
such circumstances, a few English miles in a day. I shall 
hereafter have occasion to speak of an effort that occupied a 
fortnight to get twenty-six waggons over the short distance 
of twelve English miles. In other parts, on the contrary, 
the roads across the prairies are so good that seventy to 
eighty miles can be travelled in four and twenty hours, if 
Q 
