Swivel.—­The woodcut shows how a makeshift swivel can be fitted to a tether rope.  Without one, the rope will be twisted almost up to a knot by the horse walking round and round his picket peg; with one, the rope will turn freely in the hole, through which its large knotted head prevents it from being drawn.

[This page has two sketches showing material described below].

The figure below is a better sort of swivel.  It must be made of hard tough wood, like oak:  it is six inches in length.  It has, I presume, some advantages over those of iron, because in countries where iron abounds, as in Piedmont, it holds its ground against them.  The ropes have been drawn thinner than their just proportion, for the sake of distinctness.

I give a drawing of yet another description of swivel; it is a trifle more complicated than the first, but I am assured that it acts so much better as to be greatly preferable.

Horse-collar.—­This, in its simplest form, consists of two stout bars that are a little bent or shaped with a knife; they go one on either side of the animal’s neck, and are tied together both above and below it.  To these bars, which are very thickly padded, the traces are fastened.

Traces and Trektows can be made of raw hide, cut into a long thong, then bent into three parts, and twisted and laid together, as is done in rope-making; the whole is then stretched tight between two trees to dry.  An ox-hide will make a trektow for four pairs of oxen.  Poles of wood are very generally used as traces; a thong, or a few links of chain, being fastened at either end, by which to attach them.

Greasing Harness.—­In dry climates take frequent opportunities of greasing every part of the harness. (See “Hides; Leather, to grease.”)

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

[Drawing of fastening].

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.