128 MODES OF TRAVELLING 



kind are the roads from Janina to Arsa, and from 

 Janina to the top of the Pindus ; but I doubt 

 very much if guns could be got down the Meteora 

 side without great difficulty. 



All baggage and merchandise is carried on 

 horses, there being no such article as a cart 

 or carriage in the whole country. 



Our surrigees were sometimes Greeks and some- 

 times Turks. They rode on wooden saddles, 

 which they contrived to pad with sheep-skins, 

 so as to make, with their short stirrups, a very 

 comfortable seat, and a remarkably good one for 

 riding a long distance at the steady pace at which 

 they usually travel. I became in a very short 

 time quite accustomed to their gentle jog-trot, 

 and by sitting well back in the saddle, and very 

 loosely on the horse, could forget my cares, so as 

 often to doze whilst riding along. We both found 

 the advantage of having with us good English 

 saddles, because the post-horses in Turkey are 

 not provided with any saddles. If, however, a 

 traveller intends to content himself with the com- 

 mon pack-horses of the country, he will do best to 

 have no saddle with him, because each pack- 

 horse has his own wooden saddle, which at a 



