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 bull, and is decorated with the Mikado's crest, a sixteen-petalled chrysanthemum.
CHAPTER VI
JOURNEYS THROUGH AFRICA
"From the Cape to Cairo." We have all heard of the wonderful railway which some day is to run all the way from Table Bay to Egypt, and is to carry passengers in ease and luxury through the heart of Darkest Africa. That will be in the future, no doubt; but, even if the railway were already finished, it would surely be more interesting to travel in the old-fashioned ways, and, even if it necessitated hardships and fatigue, see something of the great continent and of its inhabitants.
Let us suppose, then, that we start on our journey from Cape Town, and, ignoring the railway which already could carry us far into Central Africa, put the clock back for fifty years, or more, and engage one of the great bullock wagons in which the old colonists made their adventurous pilgrimages.