Water cart

“ The cart itself is very trim and smart, with a framework sort of head, which falls back at pleasure, and it holds four people easily. It is a capital vehicle, light and strong and uncommonly comfortable, but I am warned not to imagine that all Cape carts are as easy as this one. Away we go at a fine pace through the delicious sparkling morning sunshine and crisp air, soon turning off the red high-road into a sandy, marshy flat with a sort of brackish back-water standing in pools here and there. ”

“ Looking seaward, swarms of carts are visible going to and from lighters or small vessels at anchor in the inner road, the only means by which shipping can be discharged or loaded, the merchandise exposed of course to damage from being wet, as the horses are often up to their chests, and the cart itself even higher, in the water, through which it has to be dragged for a mile and upwards. ”

“ At all times, except when the water is at flood, the landing of passengers and freight is by cart. Familiarity with the sight does not take from its interest. Sometimes both horses and carts are seen half submerged in the water—intermingled with boats, some under sail and others pulled by oars,—the drivers, to keep themselves from being wet, standing on the shoulders of their beasts, in the manner of circus-riders. It is amusing to see them start from the shore on the approach 395of a boat or boats with passengers. ”

“ A cart, upon which two men are loading the sheaves, forms the central object in the composition, and is in strong contrast against a turbulent sunlit sky beyond. On the right of the field is a piece of waste ground bounded by a hedge of low bushes and trees, around which flutters a flock of birds. ”

“ Goods not conveyed by water carriage, are usually carried [Vol I Pg 219] on the backs of oxen or horses, or on the shoulders of men and women, carts not being generally used, except in the western districts, where the population is thin, or in some of the more eastern districts, particularly those recently under Chinese direction. The cart of the western districts, termed pedáti, is of clumsy construction, running on two large solid wheels, from five to six feet in diameter, and from one to two inches broad, on a revolving axle, and drawn by two buffaloes. ”

“ In his hand he holds a shorter pole, also pointed, with which he governs the nearer cattle. Lashed on with hide [122] strings, at the tail of the cart, is a large earthen jar, of twenty gallons, to contain water. Thus furnished, the machine moves at a slow pace, and as they never grease the axles, the creak of the wheels may be heard a mile distant.
When the caravan halts to encamp, they choose a vacant and convenient place, and making a fire, prepare for supper. ”

“ The projecting side pieces in a similar way keep the wheels from getting entangled in the undergrowth. The bottom of the cart is at a good distance from the ground, for very often the way lies through swamps or flooded marshes so deep that only the heads of the buffaloes can be seen above the mud and water. In such places the animals frequently lie down to cool themselves. ”

“ The cost of labour per day by the hand machines is for two men at 2s. 10d. each—5s. 8d.—as it requires two men to work the machine properly, one to distribute the water, and the other to move the machine and to attach and detach the apparatus to and from the hydrants; add to this 7d. per day for maintenance and repairs, will make 6s. 3d. per day. The quantity of water delivered by the water carts is 0.51 gallon per square yard, and by the hand machine 1.30 gallons. ”

“ Scuds of floating wrack are wreathing the tree-tops and boulders higher up the bush-grown slopes, and the grey, opaque, lowering sky renders the desolate waste yet more gloomy and forbidding. Floundering, splashing, stumbling, even the team of four serviceable nags appears to experience some difficulty in drawing its load, a two-wheeled Cape cart to wit, crammed pretty nearly to the full measure of its carrying capacity; for the whole well of the cart is filled up. ”

“ The country carts, in which they transport their produce from the interior, deserve notice. They are the most awkward, heavy and singular vehicles ever seen; and one of them passing through our streets, would attract as much notice as a moving menagerie. The cart is, in fact, about the height of a two story house, the sides and roof formed of flags and cane, but the bottom of hard and solid wood, which, with the wheels, are monstrously clumsy. ”

“ It is difficult to leave or enter a town without meeting strings of manure carts. The men who haul the carts get together for company on their tedious journey. They seem insensible to the concentrated odour. Often the wife or son or daughter may be seen pushing behind a cart. There is a certain amount of transportation by horse-drawn frame carts, carrying a dozen or sixteen tubs, and by boats. I was told of a city of half a million inhabitants which had thirty per cent. ”

“ In towns where the house refuse is not collected separately from the road scrapings, a judicious mixture of the two in the cart considerably assists in preventing any mud from splashing over or the dust from blowing about.
The employment of wooden carts for this work is bad economy, their rough usage, and the mode adopted for emptying them by “tipping,” renders their life a short one; a cart in constant work frequently costs from 4l. to 5l. per annum in repairs, and having but little of the original material of which it was constructed left in it at the end of six years. ”

“ He had, however, got a pull on the beasts, and they were slackening a little, but, as ill-luck would have it, on going down a gully one of the wheels caught a tree root, and in a jiffy capsized the cart, sending the driver head over heels into a clump of bracken.
The incident gave fresh impetus to the runaways, who rushed on baaing; dashing at length down the steep incline of the creek, the cart righted itself as it tumbled adown the gradient. They tore over the stream and up the bank, finally leaving the track, and getting boxed up in the scrub. ”

“ As they have no tires, and the section of the wheel part or crowd together, according to the moisture, a train of these carts bringing in the products of the hunt is a strange sight. Each cart has its own peculiar creak, hoarse and grating, and waggles its own individual waggle, graceless and shaky, on the uneven ground. ”

“ The heavier weight in a difficulty of soft ground, or in crossing a river, would be serious, but if the vehicles are numerous, and the weight distributed accordingly, it stands to sense that an enormous advantage is secured by the presence of ten oxen in five light carts, all of which can be applied to drag a single cart out of a serious dilemma, instead of remaining hopelessly fixed in soft mud, anchored by a weight of a ton and a half, as in the case of an African baggage-waggon. ”

“ It was a very wet day, and the wind was blowing furiously at the time. It had a great effect on the cart, as it was a narrow cart with a tilt on, and there was a long wood sill at the side of the river. That dropping of the sill caused the accident. ”

“ A rough cart track winds for some way into these lonely hills, and we meet timber carts descending with loads of fir-trees, the mules stumbling and sliding on their haunches down the steep hillside—the heavy two-wheeled carts, with powerful brakes on, crashing and jolting behind them over boulders and tree-stumps. ”

“ Some difficulty is also experienced in thoroughly covering over the contents of the cart, so that not only shall it be hidden from the eye, but that it shall prevent either the liquid mud from being spilled on the ground, or if the cart is being used to convey either dust or house refuse, to prevent the contents being blown about, or dropped upon the surface of the street. ”

“ Then a train of Anamese carts passed, empty, the solid wooden wheels creaking frightfully round the ungreased axles, each cart being drawn by two buffaloes, each pair being attached to the cart in front by a rope through the nostrils, so that one driver sufficed for eleven carts. The native men could not be said to be clothed, but, as I remarked before, the mercury was above 90 degrees. ”

“ Every now and then we met one of the huge, unwieldy carts which seem to be relics of a prehistoric age—rough plank affairs of enormous strength and a design so primitive as to be a constant source of wonder. They could only be pulled along at a slow walk and with vast effort by a couple of huge horses, and the load the cart was carrying never seemed to bear any proportion to the mechanism of its transport. ”

“ I will, therefore, assume that a town with a population of about 35,000 inhabitants will require at least seven scavengers' carts constantly at work, without reckoning those which will be required after a fall of snow or in exceptionally muddy weather, and for which purposes auxiliary horses and carts must be hired, as also those which are engaged in hauling stones and other materials used for roads or public works.
I have already stated that the value of an ordinary dust cart is about £18, so I will retain that figure for my estimate. ”

“ In modern times carts are used in many countries for agricultural purposes. The one-horse cart is employed by carriers all over Scotland. In France and Germany the carrier's cart is a somewhat heavier vehicle. Long in the body, very strong in construction, and poised on two high wheels with broad rims, this Continental cart carries enormous loads. The dump-cart is a vehicle so constructed that it can be unloaded by simply tilting the body of the vehicle. ”

“ To travel in a cart seemed to me so humble a mode of progression, that it really did not matter very much whether it were broken or not, indeed a broken cart seemed more to me like going the whole hog, and roughing it thoroughly while we were about it. But with the men it was different, a cart was a most dignified mode of conveyance, and to enter a big town in a broken one was as bad as travelling in a motor with all the evidences of a breakdown upon it, due to careless driving. ”

“ There was very little traffic in this street, situated on the outskirts of the city of Orel, and only occasionally a peasant cart would rattle by slowly, jumping from one deep rut still filled with mud, to another. The parts of the cart, loosely made, constantly struck against each other, producing dull sounds that reminded one of the coming summer and the vast expanses of fields. ”

“ The sides of the exterior are of cast iron, the top being of wood. At the hinder part of the cart is fixed the sweeping-machine itself, covered by sloping boards which descend from the top of the cart, projecting slightly behind the vehicle to the ground; under the sloping boards is an endless chain of brushes as wide as the cart, 16 in number, placed at equal distances, and so arranged, that when made to revolve, each brush in turn passes over the ground, sweeping the mud along with it to the bottom sloping board, and so carrying it up to the interior of the cart. ”

“ These reservoirs, and the conduits which are found running all over the hill-slopes to supply them, or to turn the mill wheels, are scattered everywhere: the tanks look ugly places to tumble into.
The wages of agricultural labourers, I believe, do not exceed from 1 to 2 francs per day.
Assisting the operations of labourers of different kinds, there are horses, mules, and asses. Frequently a cart will be drawn by a combination of all the three, a small ass leading the van, followed by the larger mule, the rear being brought up by a horse yoked within the shafts of the cart. ”

“ At the sides of the carts the peasants have slung their kitchen utensils, as gipsies do.
It cuts one to the heart to see these remains of what was lately—only yesterday—opulence and sufficiency.
One often sees enamelled ware
Enamelled kettles, frying-pans, basins.
Suddenly comes a cart with a watering-pot fastened at the side.
Just one watering-pot remains from the whole garden and vegetable plot!
Sewing machines stick out from the sides of the carts. ”

“ Time and the grinding wheels of heavy-laden carts, however, have worn innumerable ruts seven or eight inches deep into the solid stone, so that in passing over it a springless cart crashes from side to side with great violence, almost throwing shaft animals to the ground and rendering it quite impossible for any European to ride in the vehicle, while crockery or any other fragile article, however carefully packed, is doomed to certain destruction. ”

“ To their amazement, however, just as they are about to arrest the delinquent it vanishes, leaving in its place a countryman’s cart, in which a smock-frocked farmer and his wife are seated. When the pursuers are at a safe distance, the cart changes back to the motor, and makes good its escape. ”

“ This cart, pulled by men, was known as the jumper—a name widely used among early volunteer firemen and so applied because, when the puffing and blowing enthusiasts drew the cart after them, by means of ropes, the two-wheeled vehicle jumped from point to point along the uneven surface of the road. ”

“ They all have a kind of music-box attachment, operated by the turning of the axle to which the wheels of the toys, as well as those of some of the real carts, are fixed.
The toy carts are made of tin, wood and clay. Some of them are very simple, having paper covers, while others possess the whole paraphernalia of the street carts. When the mule of the toy cart is unhitched and unharnessed, he looks like a very respectable mule. Nevertheless, instead of devouring food, he becomes the prey of insects. ”