The whole vehicle can be
dismounted and reassembled in a few hours; so that unfordable streams or
impossible bits of country can be crossed piecemeal. Its enormous wheels
are set wide apart. The brake is worked by a crank at the rear, like a
reversal of the starting mechanism of a motor car. Bolted to the frame
on either side between the front and rear wheels are capacious
cupboards, and two stout water kegs swing to and fro when the craft is
under way. The net carrying capacity of such a wagon is from three to
four thousand pounds.
This formidable vehicle, in our own case, was drawn by a team of
eighteen oxen. The biggest brutes, the wheelers, were attached to a
tongue, all the others pulled on a long chain. The only harness was the
pronged yoke that fitted just forward of the hump. Over rough country
the wheelers were banged and jerked about savagely by the tongue; they
did not seem to mind it but exhibited a certain amount of intelligence
in manipulation.
To drive these oxen we had one white man named Brown, and two small
Kikuyu savages. One of these worked the brake crank in the rear while
the other preceded the lead cattle. Brown exercised general supervision,
a long-lashed whip and Boer-Dutch expletives and admonitions.
In transport riding, as this game is called, there is required a great
amount of especial skill though not necessarily a high degree of
intelligence.
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