Pack animal
As pack animals are pack animals which have in the mountains on mule tracks are used. The old word Saum ( ahd. And mhd. Soum ) means “load” or “ pack animal”; it goes back to vulgar Latin sauma , which means “pack saddle”.
The terms Säumer or Saumer (in Austrian also Samer ) mostly refer to people who kept, rented or led such pack animals, but they can also refer to the pack animals.
Donkeys , mules and mules , which are considered to be very sure-footed , have proven to be particularly suitable . This property is very important for use in the Alps . In addition, frugality, perseverance, great carrying capacity and firm hooves are important requirements. There are also horses (regional and packhorses, pack horses named) and oxen (Saumochsen) used.
A mule train consisted of one or more animals that walk one behind the other on the mule track. A horse load was called the hem and weighed between 120 and 130 kilograms, depending on the region. Often only the first animal was led by a handler and the other animals either tied up or followed freely.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Duden online: Saumtier
- ↑ Duden online: Hem
- ↑ Duden online: Säumer
- ^ Joachim Heinrich Campe: Dictionary of the German language . Part IV: S and T . Braunschweig 1810, p. 47 .
- ↑ Johann Georg Krünitz (Ed.): Economic-Technological Encyclopedia, or general system of state, town, house and agriculture, and the history of art in alphabetical order . 137th part, Berlin 1824, p. 677 .
- ↑ Johann Christoph Adelung: Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect, with constant comparison of the other dialects, but especially the Upper German . Volume III: from M – Scr . Leipzig 1798, p. 1301, right column .
- ↑ See e.g. BC Kohlrusch: Swiss Book of Legends . Leipzig 1854, p. 41 .