15G FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 



bottom, and I began to fear that rny trunk, which I had 

 packed with care, would be sadly deranged, but they 

 contented themselves with cutting open a packet of 

 seeds I was taking from the Horticultural Society to 

 De Candolle, and with seizing as a great prize my 

 rather formidable parcel of letters of introduction. 

 This was near causing me to be detained until the next 

 diligence ; but the commissionaire succeeded in getting 

 them sent up to the inspector in another part of the 

 town, upon whom we called, when after due explana- 

 tion had been made, and one or two of the letters 

 read, they were formally delivered back to me. 



I can tell you what a French diligence is like. It 

 is just like one of the railroad cars (about three apart- 

 ments) of the Harlem railroad, for example, mounted 

 on coach wheels ; the horses are small, lean, shaggy, 

 and ugly ; some seven of these beasts are fastened, 

 three abreast and one for a leader, with ropes to the 

 said diligence ; but how such beasts contrive to draw 

 such a cumbrous vehicle, loaded with seventeen per- 

 sons and their baggage, besides a driver and conduc- 

 tor, I don't well understand, although the beasts are 

 changed every five or six miles ; but somehow we got 

 over the ground pretty fast, and came to Paris, over 

 one hundred and forty miles, in a little less than 

 thirty hours, although it rained all the first day and 

 part of the second, and the roads were extremely muddy. 



We arrived just before nightfall at Montreuil, a fine 

 old fortified French town situated on the summit of a 

 hill and overlooking a broad valley, which in summer 

 must be quite beautiful ; here we dined, and were 

 charged four francs each for dinner, besides sous to 

 the gar^on. I slept pretty well in the night, during 

 which we passed Abbeville, where there is said to be 



