96 HIGH IV AYS AND HORSES. 



day all the best London coach-builders have some 

 knowledge of how a sleigh can be constructed, A 

 sleigh is after all nothing but two big skates, similar 

 to those worn when skating, attached to the under 

 part of a carriage and turned up both behind and 

 before. Without any serious injury to a carriage 

 it may easily be converted into a sleigh, even by 

 a village blacksmith in remote country villages, by 

 substitutino- two stronsf ansfles or T irons with the 

 flat part undermost. To the part of the iron which 

 rises vertically at right angles to the flattened por- 

 tion, strong stays may be riveted or bolted, the 

 other end of which may pass under the carriage and 

 be fastened thereto, in addition to which a stay might 

 pass from one sleigh-iron to the other, both before 

 and behind the under body of the carriage. 



Mr. Harris very sensibly remarks, that "for teaching 

 a man to drive and making a coachman of him there 

 was nothing like night-work." This is certainly the 

 case, as on a dark night with a badly-lighted coach, 

 the attention of the coachman is kept far more alive 

 than in the daytime. I have driven hundreds of miles 

 myself of a night, and have the misfortune to be 

 what is called night-blind. This may appear rather 

 an anomalous term, since no one can see in the dark 

 like they can in the light, except they be cats ; yet 

 there are some people who see in the dark far 

 better than others, although their sight is not parti- 

 cularly good in the daylight. This is particularly 

 the case with seamen, as I have frequently observed 

 when at sea. I have often on dark nights tied a hand- 

 kerchief or a piece of paper to the leaders' traces 

 in order that I might see whether they are working 

 or no ; for by the mere feel of the reins it is im- 



