Most of the carts had a light cross, made of corn-stalks, set at the front end, to protect the load from adverse influences.

Great numbers of men, dressed in leather trousers drawn over their cotton drawers, in single file lined past us, with great baskets full of corn strapped on their backs.

Here and there, in the corn-fields, groups of such men were cutting the ripened ears from the plants.
We now and then met groups of men bringing great timbers from the mountains fifty or sixty miles away.

These timbers were many feet in length and trimmed to a foot square; from four to six made a load.

The cart upon which they were carried consisted of a pair of wheels and an axle; one end of the timbers was attached to this, and the other was fastened to the yoke of oxen.