It is said that when the roadway is good, these "human horses" prefer to travel bare-footed; when working in the mud they wrap a piece of straw about each big toe, to prevent slipping and to give them a firmer grip.

For any of these men a five-mile spurt on a good road without a breathing spell is a small affair.

A pair of them will roll a jinrickisha along a country road at the rate of four miles an hour, and they will do this eight hours a day.

The general average of the distance traversed in a day is 25 miles.

Cockerill, who has recently described these men, says that the majority of them die early.
The terrible physical strain brings on hypertrophy and valvular diseases of the heart, and many of them suffer from hernia.
Occasionally one sees a veteran jinrickisha man, and it is interesting to note how tenderly he is helped by his confreres.