Indian carriage & pair--Photographer: Shepherd and Robertson Medium: Photographic print Date: 1863

  TO STOP THE BULLOCK CART AN INGENIOUS BRAKE IS USED :-ONE CAN SEE IT ON THE OUT SIDE OF THE CART WHEEL AS A TRIANGULAR CONTRAPTION  .THE BULLOCK CART DRIVERS RIGHT FOOT IS ALMOST ON THE BRAKE PEDAL ;BY PRESSING DOWN ON THE BRAKE PEDAL ROD THE CART COMES TO A STOP ;AS THE BACK PART OF THE WHEEL IS PRESSED  ON BY THE HORIZONTAL ROD EXTENDING BETWEEN  THE TWO WHEELS AT THE BACK  ;  DEPENDING ON PRESSURE OF THE BRAKE PEDAL THE CART CAN SLOW OR COME TO A COMPLETE STOP ;WITH A  LOUD GRINDING NOISE;DUE TO THE SCRAPPING OF THE BRAKE ROD AT THE BACK OF THE WHEEL
Photograph of an Indian carriage and pair in Rajasthan, Western India, taken by Shepherd and Robertson in c.1863. This image shows two figures seated in a small two-wheeled carriage drawn by a pair of bullocks. The photograph was published in 'The People of India', vol. VII, (1872), where it is used to illustrate the Guddees, a farming tribe of the North-West Provinces and there the location is identified as Rajasthan. The accompanying text states, "The Guddees profess to be a Mussulman tribe converted from low caste Hindooism in the reign of Aurungzeeb. They are cultivators, and keep and breed cattle to a large extent...Their principal locality is the Dooab of the North-Western Provinces, but they are also found in the Ulwar and Bhurtpoor states of Rajpootana. They are a mild, inoffensive people, and, as a class, of good behaviour, peaceful, industrious, and long lived...With their large herds they possess numbers of carts, both for transport of goods and as travelling vehicles. The cart shown here is one for riding or travelling in...As a vehicle, nothing can be more inconvenient or more rough, and the passenger has to assume a painfully cramped position which cannot be changed. It is, however, very strong, yet light, and with the well-trained bullock employed can make a long journey in a day."