The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: December third, riding rickshaws.

People have been pulling carts for millennia. Surprisingly, it wasn't until 1870 that an English missionary living in Japan perfected the idea, when he invented the jinrikisha, or "human-powered vehicle."

Though the basic concepts of a rickshaw had been conceived centuries earlier, its actualization required considerable technology, the development of steel frames, rubber wheels and relatively smooth roads. Basically it's a bench mounted between two large wheels. When pulled by a runner balanced between two long poles, rickshaws represented a vast improvement in efficiency over sedan chairs, which had to be carried by two strong men. Inexpensive to build and operate, they were an immediate hit. A decade after the first rickshaw began rolling, Japan had more than 150,000 of them.

Rickshaws appeared quickly in other Asian cities, from French Indochina to British India, everywhere with local variations of design and cosmetics. In Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and Rangoon, rickshaws and subsequent bicycle-driven variations became essential elements in city life and local color. The vehicles became an ubiquitous image of the Orient in film and fiction. Battalions of pullers came to comprise labor constituencies that eventually wielded significant civic influence.

The gasoline engine has driven rickshaws from most Asian cities, though in some places they're still used to transport tourists. To document this unique history and disappearing culture, Lonely Planet Publications has produced Chasing Rickshaws, a colorful, insightful portrait of a truly unique way of getting from here to there. FMI Chasing Rickshaws, by Tony Wheeler, is published by Lonely Planet Publications and is available in bookstores or by calling 800-275-8555 or at www.lonelyplanet.com.

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