Wheels with Broad Felloes. 673 



might, in the first place, be the means of deciding the 

 question often agitated, whether, in performing a long 

 journey with the same horses, we ought to follow the 

 example of the Italian vetturini, who, starting at day- 

 break, travel the whole day at a walk ; or whether it 

 would not be less tiresome for the horses to travel more 

 rapidly four or five hours each day, and then rest longer 

 in the stable. 



During a journey which I made in Italy, in 1793 

 and 1794, with my own horses, I made some experi- 

 ments to settle this question ; and I found, in fact, that 

 my horses were in a much better condition after trav- 

 elling fifteen days, going eight or ten leagues a day at 

 a trot, than after travelling for the same length of time, 

 and going over the same distance, at a walk. I am 

 now able to give a satisfactory explanation of this 

 result. 



Those who have travelled in Italy with post-horses 

 know that the Italian postilions always make their 

 horses gallop when they have to ascend a hill, and that 

 they do not stop galloping until they have reached the 

 top. 



As, in this case, the force expended in drawing the 

 carriage is not sensibly greater when going fast than 

 when going slowly, the Italian postilions are perhaps 

 right in trying to pass rapidly over a disagreeable por- 

 tion of the road which they cannot avoid ; and I am 

 so fully convinced of it that I shall not fail to adopt 

 their method in future, and especially in passing quickly 

 over all the small, very sandy portions of the road that 

 I encounter. 



If, when travelling on a paved road, one wishes to 

 go very fast, it is better to leave the pavement, and 



VOL. iv. 43 



