We have been to many countries and have seen many modes of travel, but there are still places, scattered over the globe, which have not been visited and yet which have strange and interesting vehicles of their own. Let us imagine, then, that we are taking a hurried voyage round the world, stopping here and there for a few moments to see those lands which we have left out on our previous tours.

We will start from Plymouth, and sail southward until we come to the beautiful Portuguese island of Madeira, and here some very curious conveyances are to be seen. These are the carros, light carts made of basket-work, which, instead of having wheels, are mounted on runners like sleds.

It seems very strange at first to think of sledges in connection with a country which boasts a semitropical climate, and where, except in the mountains, ice and snow are unknown, but the quaint carro is well-suited to its conditions and slides smoothly over the steep, paved roads.

Two kinds of these sleds are used in Madeira. The bullock carros, which are comfortably provided with springs, awnings, and curtains, and the more simple carros da monte, that look like large toboggans and run at a great speed down the hills. Hammocks are also used in the island to carry travellers into districts where rough and winding paths make the carro impracticable, and bullock carts are to be seen on the farms and vineyards. Some of these carts are very picturesque, especially those on which huge casks are carried.

In St. Michael's and the other islands of the Azores, there are very curious bullock carts made of basket-work, with solid wheels.

From the Azores, or Westward Islands, we journey on until we come to the West Indies, where, in Jamaica, we find that large, four-wheeled wagons are used in the sugar plantations. These have high sides so that great quantities of the canes can be carried, and are drawn by four or six oxen.

Small donkeys with panniers also have their share of work in Jamaica, but the negro inhabitants do much of their transport for themselves, and on market days chattering crowds of women may be seen making their way into the towns with great baskets of fruit or heavy bundles tied up in gay bandana handkerchiefs on their woolly heads.

After seeing the islands of the Atlantic Ocean we skirt round Africa and come to Madagascar, where we find litters in use which are much like those we have already seen in many countries and in many ages. A traveller who visited Madagascar in 1861 describes a royal procession when the queen rode in a palanquin that was richly gilt and embroidered with gold and scarlet.

We now cross Asiatic Turkey and reach to Persia, where, if we wish to see the country, we must engage horses for ourselves and baggage-mules to carry our goods and chattels. A traveller who went from Trebizond to Erzeroum in 1862 made the journey in this fashion, and a very romantic experience it must have been, for the scenery traversed was hilly and picturesque, and the climate left nothing to be desired. "Our caravan passed cheerfully along," he says, "the bells on our horses jangling merrily and the muleteers singing their chanting songs and entertaining each other with marvellous narratives. Much in the same way as we were travelling then, the old Crusaders rode to Palestine."

At that time, more than fifty years ago, the Bagdad railway had not been begun and riding was the only means of getting about the country. The same writer describes the gorgeously caparisoned horses with purple silk bridle reins and silver harness, on which the high officials of Persia rode through the streets of Teheran, and goes on to say that the people might be called a nation of horsemen, for even the royal despatches of the Shah and the public documents were dated "From the King's Stirrup."

Among other interesting sights to be seen in the towns of Persia are the itinerant beggars mounted on small humped bullocks, and the large panniers slung on to the backs of mules in which women travel.

These panniers, which are closely covered, look as if they would be very airless and uncomfortable, but in them long journeys are made, and the mules thus loaded may be met in company with bullock-carts and long lines of camels on the great caravan road which leads from Persia into the heart of Central Asia.

In Afghanistan women and children travel on camels, wooden panniers being hung on either side of the animal's hump, while between them is a kind of platform sheltered by a little tent-like awning.

On we go, through Thibet and over the Himalayas, where we see shaggy yaks coming across the steep passes with heavy loads on their backs, and so reach India, the strange vehicles of which have been already described. There was, however, one province which was omitted when we visited India before, and this is Pondicherry, which belongs to France and is the only district of the great peninsula not under British dominion. In this place a very original conveyance called the push-push is to be seen. It is a light carriage with wheels, springs, and awning complete, but instead of being drawn by a horse it is, as its name implies, pushed from behind by two stalwart natives.

East of India, across the Bay of Bengal, is Burmah, a country where, as in Japan, everything seems to be picturesque and artistic. Here we see little gaily clad women driving in charming two-wheeled carts which have gracefully curved fronts like the bows of a boat. Over the heads of the passengers is arranged an umbrella-shaped awning, and the bullocks which draw these dainty conveyances wear elaborately decorated harness and have collars hung with tinkling bells.

From Burmah our journey takes us to Siam, where elephants are used both for transport purposes and to carry travellers into the mountains and forests of the interior. The howdahs of these elephants are very curious, having large hoods which project both in front and at the back.

Leaving the continent of Asia we cross the sea to the Dutch island of Java, where the women ride in palanquins suspended from a long pole and carried by two or four porters. Hammocks, which are very much like the kagos of Japan, are also used, and there are quaint ox-carts with little pent roofs and rough wheels made out of solid slabs of wood.

Not very far from Java are the Philippine Islands, which now belong to America. Here strange-looking animals called water-buffaloes, or carabaos, are employed to draw clumsy wooden carts. The carabao is guided by a cord attached to a ring in his nose, the driver sitting either on the shaft of the cart or on the animal's back.