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Transport: Means And Tecniques Of Carriage
We may still find
means of carriage or haulage in Asturies which have been present for
milleniums. We refer here to means of haulage closer to dragging than anything
else, such as the rastrón for transporting stone, and to other more
evolved means of transport such as the carreña, carriella or corza, made
from interlaced sticks or poles for transporting manure, earth, cobs of corn,
etc, and the forcáu or rametu, for grass and hay, but which was also
used for carting lumber, or whatever was necessary.
The rustic or "screaming" cart typical in Asturies, el carro del
País or carro chillon, with a rolling system based on a fixed axle which
turns with both wheels and which was used to cart grass and straw and equally
to carry the bride's dowry at weddings. All these rustic engines are pulled by
the omnipresent pair of cows or bullocks harnessed to the cornal yoke,which
sits just behind the horns, as these animals have always been used for carrying
and not for pulling in Asturies. Men carry all that needs to be carried on
their backs, from the pouch which holds pails or truncated conical buckets to
sábanos de hierba, or bales of straw, and women too, from armfulls of
lumber to pails of water or their baby's cot. The men also made use of the pail
or gamella to carry two heavy cauldrons on their backs and handbarrows for
transporting stone and ofher materials.
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