How the World Travels

								

trot. As may be imagined, a very skilful and experienced driver is
necessary to guide these droskeys, as they are called, along the
rough country roads or through the crowded streets of a city.


Among other curious vehicles which may be seen in Europe are
the small two-wheeled omnibuses of Portugal and the quaint,
gaily-decorated carts of Sicily. These latter conveyances are
picturesque and interesting, for they are covered with paintings
of figures and landscapes, while even the wheels are ornamented and
carved. Donkeys draw these brilliant little carts, and they are
usually used by fruit-sellers, but often they may be seen with a
heavy load of passengers.


Before the time of railways large public travelling carriages,
called diligences, were used in France, Switzerland, and other
European countries. They were great, cumbrous vehicles carrying
many passengers with their luggage. In out-of-the-way country
districts, and among the mountains, these old-fashioned diligences
are still to be seen, clattering along the dusty roads or toiling
up the steep passes across the Alps.

CHAPTER IV
JOURNEYS THROUGH INDIA

We have seen some of the strange vehicles of England and Europe,
and now we will travel eastward into Asia. There, as is only right,
we must go first to India, for the great peninsula is one of King
George's dominions, and its inhabitants, whether they be black,
brown, or yellow, Hindoo or Mahomedan, civilised or savage, are as
much British subjects as we are ourselves.


India is an immense country, extending as it does from the
Himalayas in the north to Point de Galle in the extreme south of
Ceylon, and if we travel through the country we shall find many
curious vehicles. Some of them are exactly the same as those which
were in use hundreds of years ago, for India is a conservative
land, and, although there are railways and tramways there now,
while fine motor-cars speed along the roads, most of the natives
are content with old ways, and travel through the country districts
in the quaint bullock carts and palanquins that satisfied their
ancestors in the days before the powers of steam and electricity
had been discovered.


We will begin with Colombo, as that is usually the place where
travellers land on their journey to the East. When we go ashore
from our steamer we either take rickshaws, which were introduced
into the island from Japan in 1883, or else engage one of
the little bullock carts and drive through the picturesque,
tree-shaded streets of the town. These bullock carts, or gharis,
have two wheels and can be driven very quickly. They are provided
with hoods, as the sun is very hot in tropical Ceylon.
The bullocks are often decorated with elaborate patterns cut
or branded into their hides, and the natives excuse this cruel