o Limerick, a larger car was
required. The traffic between Clonmel and Waterford was also begun
with a small-sized car. But in the course of a few years, there were
four large-sized cars, travelling daily each way, between the two
places. And so it was in other directions, between Cork in the south;
and Sligo and Strabane in the north and north-west; between Wexford in
the east, and Galway and Skibbereen in the west and south-west.

Bianconi first increased the accommodation of these cars so as to carry
four persons on each side instead of three, drawn by two horses. But
as the two horses could quite as easily carry two additional
passengers, another piece was added to the car so as to carry five
passengers. Then another four-wheeled car was built, drawn by three
horses, so as to carry six passengers on each side. And lastly, a
fourth horse was used, and the car was further enlarged, so as to
accommodate seven, and eventually eight passengers on each side, with
one on the box, which made a total accommodation for seventeen
passengers. The largest and heaviest of the long cars, on four wheels,
was called "Finn MacCoul's," after Ossian's Giant; the fast cars, of a
light build, on two wheels, were called "Faugh-a-ballagh," or "clear
the way"; while the intermediate cars were named "Massey Dawsons,"
after a popular Tory squire.

When Bianconi's system was complete, he had about a hundred vehicles at
work; a hundred and forty stations for changing horses, where from one
to eight grooms were employed; about a hundred drivers, thirteen
hundred horses, performing an average distance of three thousand eight
hundred miles daily; passing through twenty-three counties, and
visiting no fewer than a hundred and twenty of the principal towns and
cities in the south and west and midland counties of Ireland.
Bianconi's horses consumed on an average from three to four thousand
tons of hay yearly, and from thirty to forty thousand barrels of oats,
all of which were purchased in the respective localities in which they
were grown.

Bianconi's cars--or "The Bians"--soon became very popular. Everybody
was under obligations to them. They greatly promoted the improvement
of the country. People could go to market and buy or sell their goods
more advantageously. It was cheaper for them to ride than to walk.
They brought the whole people of the country so much nearer to each
other. They virtually opened up about seven-tenths of Irel