CARRIAGE of goods and persons, in South ern and Eastern Asia, continues from remote ages of the most varied kind, being by con veyances, man, and quadrupeds. The sledge seems to have been the first kind of conveyance in use. A sledge is sculptured on the temple of Luxor at Thebes, resembling that in use by the London brewers. And sledges are in common use by the Eskimo, the Laplanders, the northern Russians, and in some winters the people of Holland and Belgium ; and in the sandy tracts north of Nellore, also in the sandy tracts of the Peninsula of India. All the earlier carts seem to have been fitted with a pole, and dragged by two animals yoked together. But in India at the present day, many bullocks and buffaloes are used singly, the yoke connecting the shafts being made to pass over the neck. A wheeled carriage or car appears to have been in use in Egypt from very early times. It is called a chariot in the 'Bible, and is shown in paintings and sculptures 4000 years old. Menu, who lived B.C. 1400, and Homer, in the.5th book of the Iliad, describe the portions of them, the spokes, axes, naves, felloes, wheels, tyres. Jabin king of Canaan had 900 chariots. David took 700 from the kings of Syria, and 1000 from the king of Zobah. Solo mon had 1400; and his merchants supplied chariots from Egypt for 600 shekels, equal to £60. The prophet Nahum, who lived B.C. 713, alludes to the chariots of Nineveh, and carriages .are figured in sculptures of Nineveh and Babylonin hunting and in war. The Assyrian chariots were larger than those of Egypt.
Chariots were used at the siege of Troy, and the Romans had chariots of two and four wheeled cars. B.C. 170, Emilius, the Roman consul, bad 750 waggons in his train, bearing the spoils of Perseus, last king of Macedonia.
The Scythians are mentioned by Herodotus, B.C. 450, as having in use a rough two-wheeled covered platform cart, and the moveable cover was used as a tent.
Porus, when he met Alexander on the banks of the Indus river, had a number of elephants of large size, and several thousand chariots, each of 'which carried six persons.
The Persian chariot had scythes and swords projecting. On Alexander's return from India to wards Persia, he travelled in a chariot drawn by eight horses. And after his death at Babylon, in order to take his body to Alexandria, a four wheeled car, 8 feet long and 12 feet wide, was built, and dragged by 64 mules.
The Ilackery of Hindustan, called garry by the people, is on two wheels, with a high axle-tree bed, and a long platform, frequently made by two bamboos which join in front and form the pole, to which two oxen are yoked ; the whole length is united by smaller pieces of bamboo, tied together and nailed.
The wheels are often of stone or of solid wood cut from a single tree, or built up. The hackery for the rich has a domed roof ; the passenger sits under the dome cross-legged, and the driver sits on the pole. It has wing guards on the wheels.
The Eka is a one-horse carriage, resembling an Irish car. It consists of a tray for the body, and has a canopy roof. The driver sits on the lore edge of the tray, and the passenger cross legged behind him.
Shampong resembles the eka, but larger, and is usually employed for women.
Donga is in use in the Dekhan, and is a two wheeled conveyance ; dne pony in shafts, and another pony outside. ? Nibs is a palanquin on two wheels, drawn by bullocks.
The Araba of the Turks has its sides of lattice work to admit the air. The Jutka is similar to the eka. In India with the palanquin, etc., and in China and Japan with forms of the sedan chair, men have been employed as carriers from the most ancient times, but in India and China largely as bearers of burdens. The camel, the mule, the horse, the bullock, the buffalo, yak, and the donkey, have been employed in Egypt, Central and South ern Asia, from prehistoric times for riding, carriage, for burdens, and for ploughing. The hybrids between the female and male yak and the bull or cow carry from two to three maunds ; they are sure-footed, hardy, and docile, and are used also for riding in the snows.
In the highest parts of the N.W. Himalaya, sheep and goats are most used. The sheep carry from 10 to 16 lbs., the goats from 12 to 24 lbs.; their day's journey is about five miles, to give them time to browse the pasture, which is their sole food. They are used to carry the borax from Tibet in packs (karbaj) slung over their backs.
During the march upon Kabul, Yakub Khan made over to the British transport service sixty two magnificent hill ponies, capable of carrying four maunds each =336 lbs. Camels rarely cover the ground at a greater speed than one and a half to two miles an hour, consequently in an enemy's country the troops must be continually halted in order not to leave their baggage in the rear un protected. The men are thus, even over the shortest marches, kept under arms all day ; and when anything over fifteen miles has to be done, the camp cannot be formed until darkness has set in. Mules or ponies keep up with the troops, and the line does not extend to so great a length. Even the longest marches cau be performed in the earlier part of the day. The kafilas that come down every year to India in immense numbers, march for two days—perhaps at the rate of 20 to 30 miles—and halt for one good day's grazing. See Camel.