The leading teamster sees him, though he is yet two miles off, and
steers his course directly towards him, all the wagons following in
his track. They (the wagons) form a line three-quarters of a mile in
length; some of the teamsters ride upon the front of their wagons,
some march beside their teams; scattered along the line companies of
women and children are taking exercise on foot; they gather bouquets
of rare and beautiful flowers that line the way; near them stalks a
stately greyhound or an Irish wolf dog, apparently proud of keeping
watch and ward over his master's wife and children.
Next comes a band of horses; two or three men or boys follow them, the
docile and sagacious animals scarcely needing this attention, for they
have learned to follow in the rear of the wagons, and know that at
noon they will be allowed to graze and rest. Their knowledge of time
seems as accurate as of the place they are to occupy in the line, and
even a full-blown thistle will scarce tempt them to straggle or halt
until the dinner hour is arrived.
Not so with the large herd of horned beasts that bring up the rear;
lazy, selfish and unsocial, it has been a task to get them in motion,
the strong always ready to domineer over the weak, halt in the front
and forbid the weaker to pass them. They seem to move only in fear of
the driver's whip; though in the morning full to repletion, they have
not been driven an hour, before their hunger and thirst seem to
indicate a fast of days' duration. Through all the day long their
greed is never sated nor their thirst quenched, nor is there a moment
of relaxation of the tedious and vexatious labors of their drivers,
although to all others the march furnishes some reason of relaxation
or enjoyment. For the cow-drivers, there is none.
But from the standpoint of the hunters the vexations are not apparent;
the crack of whip and loud objurgations are lost in the distance.
Nothing of the moving panorama, smooth and orderly as it appears, has
more attraction for the eye than that vast square column in which all
colors are mingled, moving here slowly and there briskly as impelled
by horsemen riding furiously in front and rear.
But the picture, in its grandeur, its wonderful mingling of colors and
distinctness of detail, is forgotten in contemplation of the singular
people who give it life and animation. No other race of men, with the
means at their command, would undertake so great a journey; none save
these could successfully perform it, with no previous preparation,
relying only on the fertility of their invention to devise the means
to overcome each danger and difficulty as it arose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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