The daily Alaskan., 1917-02-03
GOING ON WHEELS
From the Ancient Chariot to the
 Modern MotoFcar.
EVOLUTION OF THE VEHICLE:

The Crude Carte Ussd In Eho Early Ages by tho Romans WSrs Followed by carriasss-ThSn Came Covered
 Coaches With Doors and WlndowS.
 From the forked limb of q tree to the automobile has the Evolution of the vehicle expanded. For hundreds of years the chariot reiglNd supreme, and, bearing a fair resemblance to 1t even in this day, crude forms of carts on two wheels are to be seen in India, China, Ceylon, Mexico and other coun- tries In China centuries. ago the .mon- ocycle was In great, favor, This odd vehicle, much like the modern wheel barrow, is sttn in general use in many parts of the country and is propelled by man power.
 Among the two wheeled vehicles in popular use In the Asiatic world may be mentioned the 'ekkR,'"' largely used in northern India, and the, famed Jin- rlkIsha of Japan. Tho Romans first established the use of carriages as private means of conveyance, and with them these vehicles attained . great variety of form as well as of orna- mentation.
 In all ages the employment of wheel ed vehicles has depended largely upon the condition of the roads on which they were to be used, and the building of great highways, such as the Appian way by Claudius in 313 B. C., as well as many others, greatly facilitated the development of carriage travelling among the Romans. In Rome as well as in other large cities of the empire 1t became necessary to restrict travel in carriages to a few persons of high rank owing to the narrowness and crowded condition of the streets. For the same reason the transport of goods along the streets was forbidden be- tween sunrise and sunset. For long Journeys and to convey parties the "reda" and "carruca" appear to have been mostly used.
 During the empire the carriage which appears in pictorial representations of public ceremonials is the "carpentum." It is very light, with two wheels, some times covered and generally drawn by two horses. If a carriage was drawn by four horses they were yoked abreast among the Greeks and Romans, not in pairs, as now. From the Roman "car- ruca" are traced the modern English name carriage" the French ear rosse" and the Italian "carrozZa." The "sirpea" was a very ancient form of vehicle, the body of which was of osier basketwork. It originated with the Gauls, by whom 1t was named 'benna," and was employed by them for the conveyance of persons and goods in times of peace and baggage and supplies in time of war.
 On the introduction of the feudRl sys- tem throughout Europe the use of car 1 riages was for some time prohibited as tending to render the vassals less fit : for military service. Men of all grades T and professions rode on horses or mules. Horseback was the general mode of travelling, and hence the members of the council, who at the diet and on other occasions were employed as am bassadors, were called "rittmeister." !" In this manner also great lords made their public entry into cities.
 i Covered carriages were known in the l beginning of the fifteenth century, but their use was confined to ladies of the first rank, and 1t was accounted re- proach for men to ride in them, For a long time they were forbidden even to women, but by the end of the ff- teenth century they were being em- ployed by kings and princes In long ! journeys and later on state occasions. The first time that ambassadors. Rp- peared in coaches on a public official occasion was at the imperial commits sion held at Erfurt in 1913. Soon after this coaches became common all over Germany, notwithstanding various or ders and admonitions to deter Vassals from using them.
 Carriages seem to have been used to r some extent at quite an early period in ; France, for there Is still extant an ordinance of Philip the Fair, issued in l. 1904, by which citizens wives are pro- t hibited from using them. It appears however, that about 1850 there were V only three carriages in Paris-one be- k longing to the queen, another to Diana of Poitiers and the third to Rene de Laval, a very fat uObleman who WAS i unable to ride on horseback.
 | The first coach in England was made in 1555 for the Earl of Rutland by Walter Rippon, who also made a | coach in 1856 for Queen Mary and in 1864 a state coach for Queen Elizabeth By the beginning of the seventeenth century the use of carriages and coaches had become so prevalent in England that in 1901 the attention ot parliament was drawn to the subject and a bill ito restrain the excessive use of coaches" was introduced, which, however, was rejected.
 In regard to carriage construction, 1t would seem that glass windows or hinged and completed doors were un-