We started
again about five P.M., when the power of the sun was somewhat abated,
and encountered the usual difficulties with refractory horses at every
change. A start was in no case effected without much management and
exertion. A half-naked black generally attaches himself to each wheel;
the driver, from a post of vantage, belabours the miserable horse with
all his might and main; the Q.M.G. takes a firm hold of the rails on
the roof; and all shouting, grunting, and using bad language together,
away we go at full gallop, if we are in unusual luck, for about 300
yards. Then comes a dead stop: the same operation commences again,
and so on, until the animal is sufficiently far from his last stable
to be able to look forward with some confidence to the one ahead,
and resigns himself to circumstances accordingly. One peculiarity in
this peculiar country we found to be, that in putting our steed-to,
the English custom is reversed. The cart is "put-to," not the horse;
and the latter being left standing anywhere on the road, the lumbering
"garee" is dragged up to his tail, and fastened up with a combination
of straps and ropes, marvellous to behold.
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