The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-10-14
IN AN ARABIA.
"A Curious Persian Method of Con
veyance.

Two means of conveyance are open 10
us from Trebizond TO Erzeroum-either
train of pack horses and mules, or an
ARABIA, which will carry all our baggage,
and in which our dragoman and cook
can sleep. We decide upon the latter,
but we should have lost less time had we
taken pack horses.
An ARABIA, it should be explained. is
great numbering tented wagon, much
lighter than il appears 10 be, and not
unlike an American ''prairie schooner.
The best arabas are built in Russia. The
cart has four wheels, but no springs; the
sides slope inward from above, and tho
tail projects backward beyond the hooped
tent which covers The forward part.
The four horses arc harncssed abreast to
single long pole. This vehicle seems
at first sight to be rudely and clumsily
constructed, but upon examination 1t
will he found that the toughest wood
and the best iron and steel only are en-
ploycd. This cart will stand any
amount Of rough usage, and the threat
ening perils through which ours passed
unscathed are almost beyond belief. IL
is not easy to give the faintest notion OF
the roads. il roads they can be called,
over which our arabas labored with ever
increasing vicissitudes, aud rs we APP
preached the soaring passes near the
boundary of Persia they rolled and thun-
dercd over the rocks, straining and
pitching like ships in foul weather.
Let the reader imagine a heavy army
wagon, laden with baggage and men,
dragged by four horses over the higher
pss'es Of the Alps-not over macada.
mized roads, such as the Simplon, but
over mule tracks like the Grimsel Pass,
aud sometimes as high rs the Dent-du-
Midland then over sections OF road
partly destroyed 10y landslides and
heavy rains, and down the slippery
banks of rivers or the beds OF mountain
torrents. Imagine these passes OF six,
seven, or nine thousand feet in height to
occur not once or twice only, but day after
day and week after week, through the will
derncss Of mountains south OF Ararat and
along the borders of kurdistan. We
once rode hundred yards in the ARABIA
down the bed of river, and the sensa-
tion was like that of being tossed in
blanket.
Two hours from Trebizond We reach
n stretch of deep mirc. The men go on
in front TO reconnoitrc, aud conclude TO
drive ahead; the horses sink deeper as
they advance, the mud reaches their
girths, and the wagon wheels are buried
to the hubs. Blows and kicks avail
nothing, and the poor animals soon
cease to struggle. Then the baggage is
taken out and carried to place Of safety,
and some laborcrs are found who dig out
a passage with their shovels. A mule
train coming in the opposite direction Is
even in worse plight; one heavily laden
donkey is only kept from sinking out Of
sight by his broad pack saddle; an old
worn n-out horse after foundering close TO
the bank where the mud is deepest, re-
signs himself to his fate, tormented on
one hand by showers Of blows and kicks,
and on the other by clouds OF flies which
settle on his face, the only visible por-
ton. But all are rescued after heroic
efforts, and few hours further on this
scene is partly repeated, but we extricate
ourselves with less difficulty. Il lIarper's
Magazine.