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bank note. We once were indebted to the joint contribution of fix perfons, the poft-mafter inclufive, for effefting this object. He will moreover require a quantity of lfnalicopper coin to give to the poftillions for trmkelt , and for other trifling expences. Sincethe increafe of poftage in 1790 the price for each horfe has been 8 {killings per mile * ;they are low and llrong, but accuftomed to draw none but light carriages ; fo thatwhen the carriage is either heavy of itfelf, or much laden, they harnefs to it four or fixhorfes ; the drink money for the poftillions is a gratuity ; if you give them at eachchange of horfes a Ikilling and a half, they are very well Satisfied ; you give befides onefkilling to the holkar (the oftler who feeks and puts the horfes to the carriage). It isabfolutely requifite you- fhould fend forward a courier five or fix hours before you toorder horfes, as they are not kept at the poft-houfe, but about the neighbourhood, andfometimes at a great diftance. This precaution may however prove unnecefiary, provi-ded you travel with no more than one or two horfes, fince in general you will find asmany at the poft-houfe.
You fhould travel with your own harnefs, the Swedifh poftiiions ufing none but cords,which it is fometimes long before they can adjuft, if you have many horfes, and whichfrequently break. It will not be amifs as well to take a fervant with you, who mayknow how to drive, for notwithftanding the roads be in general excellent, there yet arecertain parts of them on which you would rather be driven by fome one in whom youmight have confidence, than by a country lad who perhaps will never have drove aughtbefore but his plough. Should you have a heavy carriage, apt to jirk forward, providedyou have clogs to the wheels, we advife their being frequently ufed, although this mea-fure will not always prevent the poftillions from going at a full gallop. If you have nofervant to fend forward, you give a note, on which is expreffed the number of horfesyou require, and the time at which you compute you fhall want them, which is carriedby a countryman from poll to port, to the fpot at which you mean to flop, which muflbe expreffed on the note. For this you pay the expence of one horfe, and the trinkelt°f the countryman, the fame as the poftillion : you may alfo fend by him fuch part ofyour luggage as you wifti to be difencumbered of. This in fhort is the only mode oftranfporting effects in Sweden , public carriages being things unknown. No inflancehas ever been adduced, notwithftanding the frequent change of the carriage by whichtt will have been conveyed, and its different condudiors from every ftage, of a box beinge ver loft, much lefs broke open ; nay it has happened, that when any have come openfrom accident, the contents have uniformly arrived fafe, and without diminution, un-touched : this tribute of juftice is due to the Swedifh peafantry, as it tends to exalt themmuch above that of every other country. At every poft-houfe the traveller is prefent-e d with a dag book (day-book), in which he inferts his name and quality, whence he^omes, whither going, the number of horfes he takes, and if he be fatisfied with thePrevious poftillion, &c. and every month this book is given to the Governor of the pro-vince.
It is abfolutely requifite you fhould carry provifion with you. Frequently do you gofen or twenty miles f without finding any thing but milk, wretched beer, brandy, andbread baked fome months before ; this is the cafe even in fome towns, but certainly nota N* Of lodging you are conftantly fecure, every poft-houfe, without exception, being
Formerly the price was 4 (killingsduring the war it was doubled. We are not informed whether? r n ° it has been reduced as it ought to be, and as the peaffntry have refuelled ; who perceive that there18 lefs travelling fince, than there ufed to be before the augmentation.
t The Swedilh mile, which is that ufed through the work, is fix Englilh miles, and |||ths,
obliged