"Ricksha!" is the only word shouted when a puller is wanted. Regular stands for them are located in different parts of the city, and if one feels depressed in spirits and wishes to get out of the "dumps," a good way to have the "cloud" lifted is to shout "Ricksha!" when within 200 to 300 feet from where fifteen to twenty of the pullers are chatting and waiting for a fare. Every one of them will spring between the shafts, like fire horses to harness, and make a dash at full speed to the person who shouted. The noise and rattle a group of pullers make in approaching sounds almost like a collision between two railway trains.
The puller rests the shafts on the ground while his passenger is being seated. He holds his big, strong, flat foot on the thills, so the vehicle will not slip while one is getting aboard, until his patron tells him to go. If one cannot speak the native language, not a word will be spoken, for rarely does one meet a native who can speak English. The passenger points his finger in the direction he wishes to be drawn. The Zulu raises the shafts and, after a few slow, heavy pulls to get the vehicle started, one is spinning along as fast as a trolley car travels.
Jim Fish Was the Swiftest Puller that Ever Wore a Brace of Horns.
Durban, South Africa.
"Jim Fish!" "Jim Fish!" they will call to a passerby, at the same time ringing the small bell on the shafts, while advancing and acting in a manner that suggests the person being approached had forgotten to call a puller. Jim Fish was the swiftest puller that ever wore a brace of horns. In a three mile race with a trolley car Jim came out ahead, but, like Pheidippides, the Greek of the dusty past, after whose run the Marathon has been named, he fell dead when he had crossed the finish line. By calling out "Jim Fish" the Zulus imagine the name suggests a fast ride.
The puller appears at his best when traveling down grade. Just at the head of the decline he jerks the shafts upward—this movement bringing his back close to the dashboard—when his arms rest akimbo on the thills. He maintains his full height during this change of position, which is in accordance with professional ricksha pullers' custom. The sulky naturally tilting backward—also the occupants—his body is nearer the axle of his vehicle than when traveling over a level or inclined surface. Aided by the weight of his passengers, the ricksha is then almost evenly balanced. Riding on the shafts, he throws to one side, like a jumping-jack, the big leg bearing the painted design of the sky or openwork, and his unpainted leg to the other. He also moves his body from side to side and assumes a labored expression, although resting while being borne on the shafts. His body movement and stern appearance are affected, and are, as he believes, in keeping with that of a racehorse when coming down the home stretch, which he is imitating. His horns and their adornment, together with the colored grass streamers, feathers, monkey tails, checkerboard designed jacket, calabashes, braid, flowers—all his trappings are then set full to the wind, as the Zulu seems to actually fly through space.
In stormy weather, which means good business for the puller, the hood is raised, and a piece of canvas that covers the front of the ricksha is buttoned to the sides, which protects the occupant from rain both from above and in front. Off the Zulu goes, after he has tucked the rug under his passenger's feet and has seen to it that the canvas shelters his fare. The rain may be coming down in torrents, and the water half knee deep in the streets, with the handicap of the raised hood and front canvas against him; but patter, patter, patter he will continue, watching for depressions, in order to sidestep them so that his passenger will not be jolted, until he has reached the place at which his fare wishes to alight. He will take one home in any sort of weather, as his strong legs and body rarely fail him.
The puller will often have nothing on but the jacket, short, split-leg pants and trappings. He does not go to his living quarters—the ricksha stable—and get dry clothes, as one might expect him to do, but trundles his sulky about in the rain looking for another fare. He pulls a ricksha from two to three years, when consumption generally claims him as a victim.