DURBAN RICKSHAW.
Here we shall see careering along the streets or waiting to be hired, some very strange little vehicles indeed, and shall hardly recognise them at first as our old friends the rickshaws of Japan and Ceylon. When we look more closely, however, we shall see that the rickshaws themselves are just the same as those which speed along the red roads of Colombo or under the cherry blossoms of Yokohama.
It is the men who drag them that are extraordinary, for the Kaffir rickshaw boys of Durban wear the most amazing costumes and deck themselves out in queer finery of all sorts. Beads, scraps of ribbon, feathers, all these are pressed into the service, and very often as a finishing touch of grandeur the boys fasten buffalo horns on to their woolly heads.
Leaving Natal behind us, we will go up country beyond the reach of railway lines. There travellers have to make their journeys in Cape carts, which are two-wheeled vehicles drawn by a pair of mules and driven by a Basuto. These natives are among the finest drivers in the whole world, and they will whip up their mules and dash recklessly up hill and down dale, no matter how rough the road may be, or even, as often happens, if there is no road at all.
There is no brake to a Cape cart, and the harness is frequently rotten or mended with scraps of string or tape, but nothing seems to matter, and the Basuto will generally manage to bring his passengers and the piles of baggage safely to their destinations.
Occasionally in these districts a more ambitious conveyance is provided, this being a coach, much like the old stage coaches of England in appearance, drawn by ten mules instead of four smart, prancing horses.
Further north we notice many strange modes of travel, such as a white man riding a bullock with saddle, harness, and stirrups complete; or a Masai family on the move, the woman leading an ox which carries not only her husband but all the household goods and chattels.
At Beira we reach the boundaries of civilisation again, for here a little tramcar may be seen running through the streets. It is, however, rather a primitive affair and consists only of a light car or trolly, on which is room for one passenger, the whole being pushed along by a scantily dressed native.
We travel on northward again and reach Khartum, whence a finished section of the Cape to Cairo railway will carry us to Wadi Halfa. Here, as throughout Egypt, donkeys are an important means of transport, and very smart the little animals look with their red leather, humped saddles, large stirrups, and the blue bead necklaces which are worn to protect them from the Evil Eye. The poorer inhabitants of Egypt and the Sudan have to be content with more simply attired mounts, and they either use a rough pad as a saddle or else ride bare-back.