CARRIAGES.
Wagons.--A traveller's wagon should be of the simplest possible construction, and not too heavy. The Cape wagons, or, at all events, those of a few years back, undoubtedly shared the ponderousness of all Dutch workmanship. Weight is required only when crashing through a bushy country, where a wagon must break down all before it: in every other case it is objectionable. It is a saving of labour to have one large wagon, rather than two small ones, because a driver and a leader are thereby spared. But if a very light wagon has to be taken, I should greatly prefer its being made on the Swiss and German fashion, with a shifting perch as in the figure
These are the simplest of affairs, and will split up into two carts--the pole and the fore-wheels forming one, and the perch and the hind-wheels another: now, should a great loss occur among the traveller's cattle, or should he break a wheel, or even strain an axle-tree, in a timberless country, it may be very convenient to him to abandon part of his stores, and to build up a cart for carrying on the remainder. Lady Vavasour describes one of these wagons in the following graphic manner:--"The perch is moveable, and they can make it any length they please; it is of so simple a construction that every farmer can repair his own, and make anything of it. If he has a perch, a pole, and four wheels, that is enough; with a little ingenuity, he makes it carry stones, hay, earth, or anything he wants, by putting a plank at each side. When he wants a carriage for pleasure, he fits it up for that purpose; his moveable perch allows him to make it anything. I counted seventeen grown persons sitting side by side, looking most happy, in one of them, drawn only by a pair of small horses, and in this hilly country."
Drays.--Two-wheeled drays, and not wagons, are used very generally in Australia. A long bar is crossed by a short one near one of its ends,--this latter forms the axletree; the body of the dray is built where the two cross; and the cattle are yoked or harnessed to the long end of the bar, which acts as a pole.
Tarring Wheels.--Tar is absolutely essential in a hot country, to mix with the grease that is used for the wagon-wheels. Grease, alone, melts and runs away like water: the object of the tar is to give consistency to the grease; a very small proportion of tar suffices, but without any at all, a wagon is soon brought to a standstill. It is, therefore, most essential to explorers to have a sufficient quantity in reserve. Tar is also of very great use in hot dry countries for daubing over the wheels, and the woodwork generally, of wagons. During extreme heat, when the wood is ready to crack, all the paint should be scraped off it, and the tar applied plentifully. It will soak in deeply, and preserve the wood in excellent condition, both during the drought and the ensuing wet season. (See "Tar, to make.") It is not necessary to take off the wheels in order to grease the axles. It is sufficient to bore an auger-hole right through the substance of the nave, between the feet of two of the spokes, and to keep a plug in the hole. Then, when you want to tar a wheel, turn it till the hole is uppermost, take the plug out, and pour in the tar.
Breaks and Drags.--Breaks.--Every cart and wagon in Switzerland, and, indeed, in most parts of the Continent, has a break attached to it: the simplest kind of break is shown in fig. 2, which represents a cart tilted upwards. Fig 1 shows the break itself; fig. 2 explains how it is fitted on to the cart. [Fig 1.] It will easily be understood how, by tightening the free end of the cord, the break is pressed against the wheels. The bent piece of iron shown in fig. 2, by which the bar of the break is kept in its place, may be replaced by a piece of wood, or even by a thong of leather. Every explorer's wagon should be furnished with a break.