134 JOURNEY BY POST TO RIGA. 



usually not bad horses, of which the middle one was 

 harnessed in shafts, and the two outside ones yoked 

 so as to face respectively right or left. In a proper 

 i; troika" the stronger middle horse has to trot, whilst 

 the side - horses keep pace with a galop to right or 

 left. The traveller has usually for seat his travelling 

 trunk or a bundle of straw - - and then, good speed, 

 and away at a galop, which only ceases at the next 

 station, if flying report has vaunted the traveller's 

 liberality in the matter of tips. 



Such a post journey requires experience. It is 

 necessary to sit on the trunk quite loosely and bent 

 well forward, so that one's own spine may form a spring 

 to protect the brain from the violent jolts of the w r heels 

 on the usually indifferent roads. If this precaution 

 be omitted, violent headaches are the infallible result. 

 However one pretty quickly accustoms oneself to this 

 mode of travelling, which also has its charms, even 

 soon learns to sleep quite soundly in the rocking po- 

 sition, coping instinctively with all the unevenness of 

 the road by judicious counter-movements. When two 

 travellers make use of such a "telega" they usually 

 lash themselves together by a girdle, in order that their 

 oscillations may be so regulated as to prevent their 

 knocking their heads together. For the rest I have 

 found that "telega" travelling can be very well borne, 

 if it is not overdone. Certainly it is said that these 

 journeys have often been fatal to couriers, who have 

 had to sit day and night for weeks together in their 

 "telegas' 1 . 



