cessarily a slow
operation, and is now quite antiquated. People who value their time
prefer to make use of the Imperial Post organisation. On all the
principal lines of communication there are regular post-stations, at
from ten to twenty miles apart, where a certain number of horses and
vehicles are kept for the convenience of travellers. To enjoy
the privilege of this arrangement, one has to apply to the proper
authorities for a podorozhnaya--a large sheet of paper stamped with the
Imperial Eagle, and bearing the name of the recipient, the destination,
and the number of horses to be supplied. In return, a small sum is paid
for imaginary road-repairs; the rest of the sum is paid by instalments
at the respective stations.

Armed with this document you go to the post-station and demand the
requisite number of horses. Three is the number generally used, but if
you travel lightly and are indifferent to appearances, you may content
yourself with a pair. The vehicle is a kind of tarantass, but not such
as I have just described. The essentials in both are the same, but those
which the Imperial Government provides resemble an enormous cradle on
wheels rather than a phaeton. An armful of hay spread over the bottom of
the wooden box is supposed to play the part of seats and cushions. You
are expected to sit under the arched covering, and extend your legs so
that the feet lie beneath the driver's seat; but it is advisable, unless
the rain happens to be coming down in torrents, to get this covering
unshipped, and travel without it. When used, it painfully curtails the
little freedom of movement that you enjoy, and when you are shot upwards
by some obstruction on the road it is apt to arrest your ascent by
giving you a violent blow on the top of the head.

It is to be hoped that you are in no hurry to start, otherwise your
patience may be sorely tried. The horses, when at last produced, may
seem to you the most miserable screws that it was ever your misfortune
to behold; but you had better refrain from expressing your feelings, for
if you use violent, uncomplimentary language, it may turn out that you
have been guilty of gross calumny. I have seen many a team composed of
animals which a third-class London costermonger would have spurned, and
in which it was barely possible to recognise the equine form, do their
duty in highly creditable style, and go along at the rate of ten or
twelve miles an hour, under no stronger incentive then