FOUR IN HAND. 157 



course I do not mean a precipice; with a proper brake 

 and good tackle there is really no more danger trotting 

 down hills than on the level road, but with the imita- 

 tion brakes as adjusted to some of the coaches, they are 

 really of no earthly use except as an ornament to be 

 used occasionally as a step. It is surprising to me that 

 with all the improvements latterly perfected with nearly 

 every class of vehicle that the properly adjusting and 

 finding out how and where the brake ought to be put on 

 a coach so that it will act as it was intended it should, 

 to help to stop the wheels from turning and therefore 

 stop the momentum of the coach almost instaneously if 

 required. There is not one brake in twenty that does 

 so, I will admit, and many accidents have occurred 

 through this. Only last season I was invited to drive 

 out with a gentleman who had started a team and had 

 employed one of the best known firms- of carriao^e build- 

 ers in this city to build a break regardless of expense. It 

 was certainly a very pretty one, but entirely unsuitable 

 for the purposes for which it was required, to run on a 

 rough, uneven country. The vehicle itself being very 

 short in the reach, in fact too compact, and as it un- 

 fortunately happened some time afterwards very easy 

 to turn over. The front seat was made to carry three 

 persons, the driver sitting on the off side as usual, which 

 made the reins come to the hands in a triangular form. 



