76 ROADS. 



circumstanced, to be jolted over one of the 

 worst roads on which wheel ever rolled. 



I can remember since the roads in Scotland 

 were so bad that travelling in a post-chaise 

 was a kind of adventure, and it was a usual 

 thing, when any one projected the shortest 

 journey, to make interest to procure for the oc- 

 casion the services of the most expert post- 

 boy at the inn, as affording some security 

 against the common catastrophe of an upset ; 

 but the Scotch roads of that period were bow- 

 ling-greens in comparison with those which it 

 was now my doom to be dragged over. 



Nor was the injucundity of the conveyance 

 relieved by any amenity in the country through 

 which we plodded, it being for the greater part 

 a continued forest, with now and then, in the 

 wilderness, a portion of land of 100 or 200 

 acres, cleared in the roughest manner, and 

 cropped among the remaining stumps with 

 wheat, clover, and Indian corn, by farmers ap- 

 parently in a small way, and generally dwel- 

 ling in uncomfortable-looking log-houses. 

 This vast tract of country, a few years ago, 



