The houses were well swept and cool, the shops were
alluring, the streets were of clean shifting white sand, and the
sidewalks, of gray cement, were as well kept as a Philadelphia
doorstep. The most curious feature of Beira is her private tram-car
system. These cars run on tiny tracks which rise out of the sand
and extend from one end of the town to the other, with branch lines
running into the yards of shops and private houses. The motive power
for these cars is supplied by black boys who run behind and push
them. Their trucks are about half as large as those on the hand-cars
we see flying along our railroad tracks at home, worked by gangs of
Italian laborers. On some of the trucks there is only a bench,
others are shaded by awnings, and a few have carriage-lamps and
cushioned seats and carpets. Each of them is a private conveyance;
there is not one which can be hired by the public. When a merchant
wishes to go down town to the port, his black boys carry his private
tram-car from his garden and settle it on the rails, the merchant
seats himself, and the boys push him and his baby-carriage to
whatever part of the city he wishes to go. When his wife is out
shopping and stops at a store the boys lift her car into the sand in
order to make a clear track for any other car which may be coming
behind them. One would naturally suppose that with the tracks and
switch-boards and sidings already laid, the next step would be to
place cars upon them for the convenience of the public, but this is
not the case, and the tracks through the city are jealously reserved
for the individuals who tax themselves five pounds a year to extend
them and to keep them in repair.
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