126 OUR RATE OF TRAVELLING. 



Our mode of proceeding during this part of the 

 journey was as follows. We were on the high 

 road to Constantinople, and travelling with post- 

 horses, but without a tatar : the surrigee, who 

 rode in front, led the baggage-horse, which 

 carried a basket on one side containing a ket- 

 tle, tea-pot, tin plates, cups, and our stock of 

 eatables ; and on the other side, a painted tar- 

 paulin containing two quilts, a small valise and 

 a cloak, besides a pair of saddle-bags. One of 

 our party always rode close behind the baggage- 

 horse with a whip or a piece of buffalo hide to 

 keep him up to his work, whilst the other two 

 trotted along leisurely in single file behind, 

 there being breadth for only one at a time. 



Our usual pace was a slow trot of about four 

 miles an hour, which appeared never to tire the 

 horses. I observed that, however good the road, 

 the surrigee always made it a rule to walk the 

 horses for about the first two or three miles, when he 

 would whip up his horse, on which the others would 

 follow, and away we went merrily. In ascending 

 mountains, the pace was generally slackened, but 

 the surrigee appeared to have an utter disregard 

 for his own or his horse's neck, because he always 



