>775- therefore, the drivers are wont to let them breathe a lit- tie every half minute, minute, or two minutes, as occafion requires: on the other hand, in defcending, even when the road is not very fteep, particularly with a load, it is to be feared, left the waggon ihould get down before the oxen, or tumble upon them, as only the hindmoft pair is put into the ihafts, and. are not able to hold back as much as is neceffary : the waggon muft therefore be locked, as they term it ; this coniifts in winding a chain that is fattened to the fore part o f the waggon, one or more times round fome of the fellies of the hind wheel, and then, with a hook that hangs to the other end o f the chain, hooking it into one of the links. Down ftill fteeper hills, as for inftance, fuch as that we were now afcending, both the hind wheels are locked, and fometimes one of the fore wheels into the bargain, efpecially in rainy weather, when, it is ilippery. In default o f a drag-chain, the wheel is lafhed fail to the feat of the waggon, and in this manner the waggon is dragged down the h i ll ; but in order that the loweit fellies of the wheel that is to be locked may not be worn, together with the iron-work round it, a kind of fledge carriage, hollowed out in the infide, and called a lock/hoe, is fitted to it. This is a foot and a half in length, and made with hard wood; underneath it is generaUy ihod with iron, and neareft refembles a trough, which is open behind for the wheel to run into. It is two or three inches deep in order to fupport the. wheel with its edges, and hinder it from flipping out; in the fore part of it there is a flout ftrap, with which it is fattened or ftrung upon the back chain. I am not ignorant, that in the north we ufe iceice hooks, or fafety-hooks, to our fledge carriages; but, at _jjw- leaft, as far I know of, we have no drag-chains to our wag- gons. This would be highly neceffary in certain places, and particularly in the fpring, and might be eafily made. Befides obviating the danger o f the cattle running away with the team, this machine likewife prevents their being bruifed in any other ways, or hurt by holding back, when they are going down hill. Under the general denomination of mountain, particularly about this fpot, I mean, not only high rocky hills, but likewife comprehend under this name all the more confiderable eminences (more or left rock) as well as the ridges eompofed o f them. But to return to the Hottentots Holland's Mountain, as it is called. It was as yet very bare o f plants. However, I had the pleafure of finding a fuperb protea in full bloom. It was this that I have defcribed and given a drawing of in the Swedifh Philofophical Tranfacftions for 17 7 7 , page 53, under the name of Gujlavus’s Scepter. Flora, by confe- crating this beautiful fpecies to fo glorious and auguft a name, perpetuates the memory o f her improvement and augmentation (fo honourable for our northern climate) by means o f the protection, which the fcience of botany has enjoyed under the great kings o f the G u s ta v ian race;. and at the fame time implies a wifh, that under our moft gracious king Gustavus III. the Scepter may ftill continue to flouriih. This protea is a fhrub from two to four feet 111 height, which fometimes grows up undivided as ftrait as a rod, and at other times throws out two or three fpiral branches, terminating in tufts of flowers of a filver colour. What is moft:
27f 72-1
To see the actual publication please follow the link above