30 STAGE-COACH. 



abominable conveyance than this vehicle, or 

 roads more abominable than those it was 

 dragged over, can hardly be imagined. 



The American stage-coach is a most un- 

 gainly vehicle, carrying nine insides, three on 

 a front seat, three on a back seat, and three 

 on a bench hung in the middle ; instead of 

 panels, it has oil-skin curtains to shut down 

 at night ; its body is something in the form 

 of a boat, resting on strong leather slings in- 

 stead of steel springs, which indeed would 

 not stand a mile on their roads ; it conse- 

 quently dances in the air like a balloon, 

 giving a certain kind of variety to the mo- 

 notony of a journey. The coachman sits 

 on a bench, considerably lower than the 

 top of the coach, and lower even than the 

 horses, and there being no pad-terrets the reins 

 dangle loose and afford no command of the 

 horses ; but then they are so admirably broken 

 that, although fine high-spirited animals, they 

 regulate their pace instantly at his call. Each 

 man drives a twelve or fifteen mile stage, and 

 what much surprised me, pulls up every four 



