Twelve Hundred Miles in a Waggon ... With illustrations by the author

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TWELVE HUNDRED MILES IN A WAGGON 1NSPANNING. TWELVE HUNDRED MILES IN A WAGGON PA- ALICE BLANCHE BALFOUR WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR EDWARD ARNOLD to Hje Entria ©ffict LONDON NEW YORK 37 BEDFORD STREET 7° FIFTH AVENUE TO MY Jellofo=&rabcllers INTRODUCTORY NOTE In the spring of last year our party of four started for the Cape, intending to travel through Matabililand and Mashunaland by waggon. We were in happy uncertainty as to how this was to be accomplished, but as regarded both the route to be pursued and the mode of conveyance to be employed, two things only were certain — that no two people gave the same advice, and that each person was convinced that his plan was the only one that was practically possible. Finally, our arrangements were made in accordance with the advice of Mr. G. Grey, who had lived for some time in the Chartered Company's territory, and who made the fifth member of our party during the whole of our "trekking" expedition.

I may add that we never had any b TWELVE HUNDRED MILES IN A WAGGON X reason to regret having put ourselves in his hands. As two of our wao-aons had to be built specially for our needs, it was some weeks before we were able to start. These were spent at the Cape and in visiting the Orange Free State, Basutoland, Johannesburg, and Kimberley ; and we finally joined our waggons on the 30th May near Mafeking. The following extracts are compiled from my letters and journal. They were written with no thought of publication, and do not pretend even to give a full account of our travels, much less an account of the country. I have thought it advisable to leave out almost all reference to the various political and social problems which naturally presented themselves in the different countries which we visited, as well as descriptions of towns, mines, and other subjects which have either been described before, or would require much more knowledge than can be hastily acquired by a passing visitor like myself, to do justice to. Nearly everything personal has, of course, been

Preface

XI omitted, and that being so, I take this opportunity of saying, once for all, that we were everywhere received with a kindness it is impos sible to exaggerate. Every one we met seemed to think no trouble too great and no incon venience worth considering which could minister to our comfort ; and we shall always retain the most grateful remembrance of the wonderful hospitality of South Africa. ALICE BLANCHE BALFOUR. Whittingehame, December 1895. PAGE ix I IO 16 30 CONTENTS Introductory Note

Letter I

Start for the Cape — The Captain's merman — A passenger in a butter cask — Madeira — Teneriffe — "Portuguese men-of-war" — Flying fish — The murder of Carey — Saldanha Bay — Table Bay

Letter II

Cape Town — Groot Schuur — Klip-springers and spring-bucks — Orange scale and ladybirds — Fish-carts . . .

Letter III

Scenery near Cape Town — Table Mountain — Aerial tramway — Stellenbosch — Slave graves — Cape cart — Frenchoek — Leopards and baboons — Wages of natives — Bushman folklore — A fight with Bushmen — Snake bites — Seismic disturbances — Arrangements for waggon journey .....

Letter IV

Leave Cape Town — Worcester — Ostrich farm — Cape railways — The Karroo — Karroo Hills — The first meerkat — Orange Free State — Native huts — Opening of the Folksraad — Locusts TWELVE HUNDRED MILES IN A WAGGON XIV PAGE 40 60 69 s_ 89

Letter V

Journey to Basutoland— The Presidential Coach— Birds— Thaba-nchu— Drift on the Caledon River— Maseru native dress- Basuto Hills — Dongas— Absence of trees — Berea church — Berea donga— Roma Mission— Letloba's hut — Basuto decoration — Baskets — A Frenchman's easy path — Thaba Bosigo — Mosupha— Basuto riches— Purchase of wives— Division of labour — Taxes — Return to Bloemfontein

Letter VI

Johannesburg — Political situation in the Transvaal — Native dance — A mimic Witch - Doctor — Wooden pianos — Thunderstorm — Kimberley .......

Letter VII

Kimberley to Marizani — Straight line of railway — An American story — Our waggons and attendants — First afternoon's trek — Stuck in the mud — Jolts — Mafeking — Custom-House and vaccination difficulties — Visit to Willow Park — Rapid growth of Eucalyptus trees ......

Letter VIII

How our trekking days are apportioned — More " sticks " — Yells and thrashings — Dust — Camel - thorns — Wait - a - bits — Birds and beasts — Difficulties of sketching ....

Letter IX

Palla — The Derby — Landscape — Mopani trees — Larvæ of Botflies — Muddy water — Digging for water — Crossing the "Thirst land " — Waggons driven against branches — Nine imaginary lions — Palapsye — A broken and mended umbrella — Khama A bath in a breakfast cup ..... CONTENTS XV PAGE 1 02 123 149 166

Letter X

Strayed horses— A moonlight ride — The spider left behind — Mr. Fitzwilliam is lost on the veldt — He finds his way back at night — Kopjes — Euphorbias — Flowering aloes — An oven on the veldt — Ant heaps — Nearly upset — Arrival at Bulawayo — Our abode there — The ruins of old Bulawayo — Insulting behaviour of the Matabili before the war — The commencement of new Bulawayo .......

Letter XI

Mrs. Colenbrander's hut — A native dance — Native views of the past and present — Leaving Bulawayo — The Bembesi and Shangani battlefields— Leave the main road — Sixteen "sticks" — The diisselboom gives way — Reach the Selukwe Hills — The Bonsor mine — Gold panning — Crossing the Selukwe Hills — Melancholy result of ascending kopjes — We follow a honey-bird — Threshing oofoo — Crossingthe Tokwe — Failure of attempts to blow up a crocodile — Arrival at Victoria

Letter XII

Visit to two Makalanga kraals — Offerings to ancestors — A native chorus of welcome — The spider breaks down again — Zimbabye ruins — The fortress — A lion story — Natives carving wooden bowls — The Zimbabye temple — A walk on the wall — Cats and dogs in church — Shoeing oxen .....

Letter XIII

Leave Victoria for Charter— " Charter slats "— Magoussy trees- Oranges— Granite kopjes and " Kaffir booms" — Soft water from granite — Climate — The oxen begin to get weak— Mumbu — How puff-adders strike— Twisting reims— Ant heaps— Flowers in drought — Arrival at Salisbury ..... TWELVE HUNDRED MILES IN A WAGGON PAGE i79 210 235

Letter XIV

Leave Salisbury — Bushman rock drawings — Matabili and Mashunas — Tribal government — Native commissioners — Jim's dangerous snake — Legend of chameleon — Native fear of chameleon — Native game-traps — Rides — Chipanga's kraal — Chipanga — Ruins of native town — Wall at Chipadze's grave — Kaffir beer — The " Devil's Pass " — Mr. Coope's lion stories — A lioness caught in a trek chain — Two more lionesses killed — A lion kills a native — Sad end of a trooper's saddle — Lost on the veldt — Mr. G. Grey shoots a sable antelope — Ride from the Odzi River to Umtali — We are taken in at the Hospital — A native injured by a veldt fire .......

Letter XV

Obliged to leave Umtali to catch steamer — Spring vegetation — Attempts to dig up plants — The Standard-wing Nightjar — Moths and grasshoppers — Crossing watercourses — Carriers — Mr. Coope's genius for barter — Machabel trees — Native articles for use and ornament — Decoration of hair — Making a fire by rubbing sticks — Final collapse ofthe spider — Camp at the Revue Drift — Heavy rain — Last hope of seeing lions abandoned — Chimoio's — We part from our waggons— Start for " Seventy-five " — My machila-bearers — Dinner under difficulties — An ant foray — Catch a construction train — Tropical forest — A snake on the railway — Seventy-five mile peg — Attempt to improve our fare — Parasols — Tall hats — Leave for Fontesvilla — Mrs. Grey sees a lion's spoor — Diversions of a railway guard — On the Pungwe — Arrival at Beira — A lion stuck in the mud .

Letter XVI

Beira to Zanzibar — Mozambique — Mr. Hunt's lion-shooting — Dar es Salaam — The German v. the English system — Convicts — Arab graveyard — Native canoes and fishermen — Delay in unloading cargo — A native ferry — Baobabs — The market — Manioc — Musical instrument — First sight of Zanzibar . CONTENTS XVII

Letter XVII Page

Zanzibar — Driving in the streets — Driving in the country — Jibbing — Clove plantations — Revenue from sale of cloves — Mangos and palms — Slaves — Shops — Swahili dress — Rain storm — A native feast — Start for home — Crossing the line — Male nurses — A French deputes views on titles — Youthful enthusiasm — The Red Sea — The end ...... LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS INSPANNING ...... Frontispiece PAGE Cloud Effects, Saldanha Bay ..... 9 Gkoot Schuur ....... 12 Cape Cart, Frenchoek ...... 23 Donga at Berea Mission Station, Basutoland . . 47 Hill and Donga near Mosupha's Kraal, Basutoland . 54 Basutos riding Oxen ...... 5S Kaffir Dance, Robinson Mine Compound, Johannesburg . 65 Mr. Jansen standing at the Foot of Trees planted by Himself ....... 80 Mopani Leaf ....... 90 Digging For Water in a Sandy River Bed . . .93 Empty Transport Waggons crossing a Sandy River Drift. 95 Aloe on the Veldt, Bechuanaland . . . .111 Ant-Heap Oven . . . . . . .112 Matabili Hut . . . . . .116 Ruins of Old Bulawayo . . . . . .119 The Principal Square, Bulawayo.

Natives dragging a Water-Barrel ...... 121 Waggon coming out of a Drift .... 135 Natives threshing Oofoo . ... 141 Spider crossing the Tokwe River . . I4c A Native Chorus of Welcome . . . . . i*ji LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix PAGE Rocks at Entrance of Zimbabye Fortress . . 157 Natives carving Wooden Bowls, Zimbabye . . .161 View between Zimbabye Fortress and Temple . . 163 Our Camp a few Miles north of Victoria, 31ST July . 167 Granite Rocks between Victoria and Salisbury . . 171 Twisting Reims . . . . . . .177 Makalaka Trap for Small Antelopes, Wild Cats, etc. . 1S7 Makalaka Snare for Small Game . . . .188 Chipanga ........ 193 Playing the Piano ...... 206 Sable Antelope on Pony, shot by Mr. G. Grey . . 207 Waggons crossing the Revue Drift .... 219 Navvies working on the Beira Railway . . . 228 Tram-Car at Beira ...... 232 Native Canoe, Dar es Salaam ... . 241 A Gossip round the Well, Native Quarter, Dar es Salaam 245 A Sprig of Cloves ......

Letter I

Start for the Cape — The Captain's merman — A passenger in a butter cask — Madeira — Teneriffe — " Portuguese men-of-war " — Flying fish — The murder of Carey — Saldanha Bay — Table Bay. On Board the S.S. Roslin Castle, Tpt/i March 1894. We started from Southampton on 24th March, our party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Grey, Mr. H. Fitzwilliam, and myself. It was a lovely evening, the setting sun shedding an exquisite light over the " Needles." Till we passed the island of Ushant the vessel remained steady, but there she began to roll (her nick name — fully deserved — is the " Rolling Castle "), and has never stopped since except during the few hours we were at Madeira, and for about an hour as we passed among "the Islands," as the ship's officers always designate the Canaries. On Saturday evening I dined in the saloon (I B haven't had a meal in it since), and made acquaintance with our commander, a good-humoured Scotchman, who tells capital stories, and isn't the least ashamed of his early life as a sailor before the mast.

He told us of his one experi ence of seeing, what he jokingly calls, a Merman. It was off Cape Blanco (just where we are passing now, 4 p.m. 30th), some ten years ago. He was on the bridge, and looking down saw a creature in the water of a sort of nondescript gray-brown colour, with long fore and hind limbs, but, as far as he could see, with no tail. It seemed about 15 or 20 feet long. The creature used its fore limbs to swim exactly like a man does, and he could see a kind of scalloped -edged web ex tending from the wrists to the body. The head appeared to be flattish ; but he only saw it for a short time, and was too far above it to make out more about it. He never saw a beast like it. Another of his stories was of when he was a sailor before the mast in a sailing vessel, where, as the voyage was longer than usual, A PASSENGER IN A BUTTER CASK 3 great care had to be taken to waste no food.

He was sent down to where the provisions were stored to collect a lot of potatoes which had got loose, and put them into a sack. A passenger, a young man who had taken a liking to him, went down with him to help him. Our captain asked this passenger to hold up the sack when he had got some of the potatoes in it, and to shake them to the bottom. The man was too short to do this easily, and in order to manage better, got on to a cask. As he heaved the sack with a mighty jerk, the top of the cask on which he was standing gave way. It was in the Tropics and very hot, and the cask was full of butter in a half-melted condition. In went the passenger bodily, and out spurted the butter in a fountain all round. A great lump hit our captain in the eye, and when he had cleared it away he saw the unfortunate passenger standing in the cask, completely enveloped in butter, and so firmly stuck that it was some time before he could be got out again.

We got to Madeira at about twelve on the 28th, and very lovely the island looked. We were immediately surrounded by the usual boat loads of chattering Portuguese, trying to sell all sorts of wicker chairs and baskets, parrots, fruit, embroidery, etc., and other boats with men naked to the waist, diving for money thrown into the water by the passengers. In one boat was a tiny boy who was made to dive : the poor little wretch looking so miserable, with his forehead and cheeks puckered to his eyes, and shivering and shaking with cold. We landed in one of the boats, and in the afternoon went up to the Mount Church, Mrs. Grey and I in ham mocks and the men on horseback ; they (the men) being much amused at the way the owners of the ponies held on by their tails up the hill. The Bougainvilleas, geraniums, daturas, and all sorts of flowers looked supremely lovely, and after the miseries of the voyage how one longed to remain, instead of going on in that vile steamer shining white in the smooth bay below.

The oak-trees were just in full leaf, the planes and vines coming out. Robins were singing in the evergreen oaks, MADEIRA 5 picturesque-looking wrinkled old women looked down at us from the terraced walls, and the bare footed children ran alongside carrying baskets balanced on poles over their shoulders. The Mount Church is nearly 2000 feet above the sea, and the correct thing to do is to come down most of the way back in a basket sledge. The road, which is paved with cobbles worn smooth by many generations of sledgers, is so steep that the sledges go down at a tremendous pace, even with two men holding on with ropes as drags ; and Mrs. Grey and I, being a light load, did it in style. Whenever the slope lessens, one or other of the men runs forward to place a greased cloth under the smoking runners to prevent them heating too much.

It was pleasant to renew the old experiences and see the old sights with which I had once been so familiar ; but it was a sadly discordant note to observe a wheeled vehicle in truding among the bullock sledges of my youth. Yesterday morning we came in sight of Tene riffe. The peak was visible for some hours, though surrounded by cloud banks ; and glorious it looked standing snowclad against the blue sky, and below purple and pink to the water's edge. But I was disappointed to find that the mountain rises far less abruptly from the sea than I had expected. The outlines of the island on our right were much more beautiful, and a shower on the hill -tops added wonderful lights and shades. This afternoon we have been passing Cape Blanco — a long white sandbank looking like a low chalk cliff. Several schooners were seen afar off fishing on the bank near which we were passing.

The temperature is perfect, and to-day for the first time since we started (except the few hours at Madeira) have I felt that life is not wholly unadulterated misery. 3rd April. — We cross the Equator to-day. The last two days and nights have been oppres sively hot — not so much that the temperature was very high (I don't think it has been above 8o°) — but because the air is so muggy and damp. Drops of moisture coagulate in rust at the points of my scissors and knives. Everything is sticky, and the smuts from the funnels adhere to every- FLYING FISHES 7 thing. Yesterday morning thousands of " Portu guese men-of-war " 1 — so called because they topple over on the smallest provocation — floated by. Their colours are perfectly exquisite — delicate yet brilliant pinks, violets, and oranges gradating into one another.

There are a good many flying fishes about, and of course, like every one else, I tried to make up my mind whether they really fly, or only jump with the fins acting as parachutes. They skim along for great distances, — far greater, it seems to me, than could be done by a mere spring into the air, — and keep very much at the same pace and at the same level above the water, their fins vibrating rapidly all the time. Occasionally they just touch the water and go on again, but whether they receive fresh impetus by so doing I can't make out. I have not been able to see whether they can turn in the air, but they do go in curves, blown, I think, by the wind. One jumped in at a porthole window one night, attracted by the light. 1 Physalis pelagicus, an animal belonging to the same class as jelly fishes.

The first officer has been telling me how he arrested O'Donnell on board the Melrose Castle when he murdered Carey, the informer of the Phœnix Park murders. He (the first officer) was on the bridge when he heard a shot. He rushed down, hearing two more shots as he ran, and just as he got to the passengers' quarters, saw Carey run along into the arms of his wife, who came out of her cabin with a child in her arms, and they all fell in a heap together. The steward was too much startled to do anything, so the first officer rushed forward and seized O'Donnell. He was afterwards several times advised to go away and not give evidence, for fear of danger to himself from the Fenians. nth April. — This afternoon we arrived at Cape Town. We could see Table Mountain fully fifty miles away. On our left was the low coast of Saldanha Bay, with extraordinary horizontal and perpendicular bars of cloud, indistinguishable in colour from the hills on which they rested, and looking like Titanic tables with innumerable legs.

Nearer the Cape there was a great deal of TABLE BA Y 9 mirage, so that land appeared where no land was, and foreshortened ships looked like tall factory chimneys. It was brilliant sunshine, and as we approached the harbour the great group of hills — Table Mountain, Devil's Peak, and the Twelve cloud effects, saldanha bay. Apostles — looked splendid in pink and blue. Robben Island beside us, a low, flat sandbank, dull green above and sandy gray beneath, looked inexpressibly dreary by contrast ; and one felt doubly for the lepers living there in monotonous misery.

Letter II

Cape Town — Groot Schuur— Klip -springers and spring -bucks — Orange scale and ladybirds — Fish-carts. Groot Schuur, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 17th April 1S94. We expected to have to go to a hotel on landing, and were therefore agreeably surprised when we were met at the quay with the information that Mr. Rhodes had placed his house at Rondebosch at our disposal — Mr. Rhodes himself being in Pondoland. The quay presented a wonderful mixture of nationalities : Malays in turban or fez ; Negroes and Kaffirs of all shades from yellow to black, and equally variable hairiness of face ; whites, pure and mixed ; and some people looking like Indians, notably Mr. Rhodes' coach man, an orange-coloured individual with glossy black hair and luxuriant whiskers, correctly dressed in plain livery, and driving a typical pair GROOT SCHUUR 1 1 of Cape grays in a Cape cart.

This is a most fascinating kind of vehicle on two wheels, holding four persons, all facing the horses, the whole being covered with one large hood. In this Mrs. Grey and I were driven to Mr. Rhodes' house, Groot Schuur, which is a few miles from the harbour, along a flat road, at first running through the outskirts of the town, with low, irregular houses scattered on either side, mostly roofed with corrugated iron, and surrounded with the usual dreary wastes of rubbish heaps and excava tions for new houses, which seem to be the almost invariable accompaniments of a town which is what is called "thriving." Presently you come to rows of barrels set up at intervals, and without any tops to them. These are at first puzzling to the new comer ; but careful inspection shows that a tiny eucalyptus is concealed in each of them for pro tection against the cutting winds.

Another thing that strikes one as odd at first is the habitual use of old biscuit-tins for flower-pots, which does not add to the beauty of a garden. Further from the town are rows of larger eucalyptus, stone pines, and oaks, and hedges of huge aloes. But all these are spoiled by the thick rust-red dust from the road. Everything for ten or twenty yards on either side becomes rust-coloured — the grass, the aloes, the stems and twigs of the trees, and even groot schuur. every needle on the pines ; and one's towel . is equally tinged when one washes one's face after going along the road. Groot Schuur is an old Dutch house which had been anglicised, and which Mr. Rhodes is now restoring to the original Dutch type once more, THE KLIP-SPRINGER 13 by adding high rococo gables ornamented with white plaster-work.

The oak-trees all round are still quite green, although it is early winter, and the garden is full of lovely tea roses and other flowers. We drove three or four days ago to call on Mr. and Mrs. Rudd. They have a most lovely view over the Hottentots Holland mountains, which looked brilliant in the setting sun. Mr. Rudd keeps a few tame African antelopes. One of them, a poor little Klip-springer (Klip = Rock), looked so melancholy in the thick grass of its field, where its hoofs grow too long for want of exercise on the cliffs. They once took it to the front door, when it immediately began dancing up and down the steps with joy. It is about as large as a good-sized lamb, and about the colour of a hedgehog. The spring bucks, of which Mr. Rudd has several, are very pretty indeed. When they are excited they career over the field in true "buck-jump ing " style, springing high into the air on all four legs at once, the legs held perfectly straight and stiff, the head down, the back arched, and body contracted behind the ribs, so that they look just like the badge of the Order of the "Golden Fleece."

While jumping or running a great ruff of long white hair suddenly starts up like magic on the croup round the tail, disappearing again as soon as they are quiet. Mr. Rudd also showed us the scale which infests orange -trees, and is so fatal to their growth. When this ravaged the Colony a short time ago, he sent to California for the lady bird, which destroys the scale. A large number were sent, but most died on the way. Those that lived were carefully nursed, and soon in creased rapidly, and almost exterminated the scale over the country. They then died out themselves — having nothing left to feed on — and when, some time after, the scale reappeared, Mr. Rudd had the greatest difficulty in getting any ladybirds in the district. The ladybird is very small — smaller than most of our ordinary English ones ; and coloured black with red spots.

There is as great a variety in the vehicles FISH-CARTS 15 you see in Cape Town as in the nation alities. Waggons drawn by "spans" of twelve or fourteen oxen, or half a dozen mules, are frequent. The horses are small and light, and it is far more common to see two horses in a cart than one. It rather surprises one at first to meet a cart full of empty bottles or other rubbish driven four in hand ; or to see what we should call a cadger's cart, in which fish is being hawked along the streets, drawn by two fiery steeds, with the invariable accom paniment of a horn like an English stage-coach. The number of these fish-carts is extraordinary. You hear them passing all day. Once I re marked to some one that there must be an immense amount of fish being caught just now, and was immediately informed that fish was then unusually scarce !

Letter III

Scenery near Cape Town — Table Mountain — Aerial tramway — Stellenbosch — Slave graves — Cape cart — Frenchoek — Leopards and baboons — Wages of natives — Bushman folklore — A fight with Bushmen — Snake bites — Seismic disturbances — Arrangements for waggon journey. Groot Schuur, ist May 1894. Since I last wrote we have made several ex peditions in the neighbourhood. The scenery wherever we have been is wonderfully fine. I cannot imagine why one has never heard of the beauties of this country. You have the sea, with a very varying coast line ; magnificent ranges of serrated hills, glorious in colour, often running out into promontories ; and long stretches of flat land covered with all sorts of vegetation and exquisite flowers, from which the hills rise often quite abruptly. My idea before I came here was that the district, otherwise uninterest ing, was made remarkable though not beautiful TABLE MOUNTAIN 17 by one flat -topped hill.

In reality Table Mountain is but an unusual incident amongst a wealth of splendid points and jagged edges. How I should like to spend months here trying to paint their beauties ! On the 1 8th we rode up Table Mountain. It is a bad time of year for flowers, yet every step brought lovely new ones into sight. When we got to the upper part of the hill the ground, instead of being sandy as it is below, was peaty, and the streamlet beside us was amber-coloured like a Highland burn. The general colour was also similar to the higher parts of a Scotch hill ; it was only when you looked close that you saw that the heaths, rushes etc., are quite different from our own, and have no grass growing between the tufts. At the Wynberg reservoir we were met by Mr. Stewart, the engineer of the new Cape Town reservoir, about half a mile further on.

Under his guidance we were shown the new reservoir, which is simply a natural basin fed by the surface drainage of the top of the c TWELVE HUNDRED MILES IN A WAGGON mountain, and closed at the narrow rocky gorge which forms its only outlet, by a strong masonry dam. Instead of riding back by the way we had come we went down in an aerial tram used for bringing up cement, which starts from a cleft between two of the "Twelve Apostles," a group of peaks forming one side of Table Mountain. The tram consists of a cage hung on a wire rope passing over high iron standards, and is worked by a steam engine at the bottom of the mountain. The cage hangs below and on one side of the rope, being supported on a framework above connecting two wheels with deeply grooved tyres, which run tandem -wise on the rope.

On the lower and less steep part of the mountain-side the standards are not very far apart ; but on the precipitous upper part the spans between them are as much as 1400 and 1500 feet, and the descent is the steepest of any aerial tram in the world. Although it is so steep, the hill is so nearly perpendicular that in one place, as you look AN AERIAL TRAMWA Y 19 down out of the cage, the ground below you is 200 feet off. The vertical descent amounts to 2200 feet. It takes ten minutes at ordinary speed to go from one end to the other ; but in consideration of our nerves we were taken much more slowly, and even so, as the wheels passed over each standard there was a jolt. The engineer told us that once when he was going along fast, the jolt was so great that one of the wheels went right up off the rope.