How the World Travels

								

narrow that they cannot be employed. Then it is that we find the
quaint wheelbarrows, which are, perhaps, the strangest conveyances
in the whole world. These wheelbarrows are used both to carry
passengers and merchandise. Those intended for the former purpose
have a very large wheel, on either side of which is a seat arranged
rather in the fashion of an Irish jaunting car. Below the seat a
cord is suspended on which the feet of the travellers can rest.
Two, four, six, or even, sometimes, as many as eight native women
can be carried, and the coolie who pushes the barrow has a strap
across his shoulders which eases his arms of some of the weight.
Occasionally hooded wheelbarrows are seen, and for them a second
coolie in front is employed.


In Northern China donkeys and bullocks often drag these strange,
one-wheeled carts. The roads are so bad that it is almost
impossible for larger vehicles to be used, although sometimes we
see a native family with their household goods moving from one
place to another in a rough wagon drawn by an ox and a donkey
harnessed side by side.


From China we travel still further east, and in Japan, the Land of
the Rising Sun, other curious and picturesque conveyances are to be
seen by the fortunate tourist who is able to journey so far afield.
Horses are very little used in this country, and the Chinese
jin-li-che is the principal conveyance, its name being now changed
into jin-ri-che or jinricksha. Very charming these little vehicles
look, as they careen through the streets of a town, or under the
blossom-covered cherry-trees of a country road, especially if the
wheels are painted scarlet, and if the passengers are two dainty
little Jap maidens, with gay obis round their waists and flowers
decking their smooth, dark heads.
The coolies who draw the jinrickshas are also picturesque in
their blue cotton clothes, and in winter-time they wear most
extraordinary straw cloaks which make them look like small moving
haystacks.
Another interesting Japanese conveyance is the kago. This is a
small, hammock-shaped litter made of cane and bamboo, suspended
to a strong pole. There is an awning overhead, and on this the
light luggage of the passenger--a pair of straw shoes, a bouquet
of chrysanthemums, or a bundle tied up in a brightly coloured
handkerchief--is carried.
The bearers of a kago are two stalwart, bare-legged men, and they
always carry long sticks in their hands.
This curious type of litter is much used by the Japanese
themselves, but not by Europeans, as the occupant of a kago has to
sit with his knees doubled up in what seems to Western ideas a most
uncomfortable position.
There are other strange conveyances to be seen in Japan, one of
the most interesting of all being the Imperial chariot which has
its place in great religious processions. It is drawn by a black