156 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 
bottom, and I began to fear that my trunk, which I had 
packed with care, would be sadly deranged, but they 
contented themselves with cutting open a packet of 
seeds I was taking from the Horticultural Society to 
De Candolle, and with seizing as a great prize my 
rather formidable parcel of letters of introduction. 
This was near causing me to be detained until the next 
diligence ; but the commissionaire succeeded in getting 
them sent up to the inspector in another part of the 
town, upon whom we called, when after due explana- 
tion had been made, and one or two of the letters 
read, they were formally delivered back to me. 
I can tell you what a French diligence is like. It 
is just like one of the railroad cars (about three apart- 
ments) of the Harlem railroad, for example, mounted 
on coach wheels; the horses are small, lean, shaggy, 
and ugly; some seven of these beasts are fastened, 
three abreast and one for a leader, with ropes to the 
said diligence; but how such beasts contrive to draw 
such a cumbrous vehicle, loaded with seventeen per- 
sons and their baggage, besides a driver and conduc- 
tor, I don’t well understand, although the beasts are 
changed every five or six miles; but somehow we got 
over the ground pretty fast, and came to Paris, over 
one hundred and forty miles, in a little less than 
thirty hours, although it rained all the first day and 
part of the second, and the roads extremely muddy. 
We arrived just before nightfall at Montreuil, a fine 
old fortified French town situated on the summit of a 
hill and overlooking a broad valley, which in summer 
must be quite beautiful; here we dined, and were 
charged four franes each for dinner, besides sous to 
the garcon. I slept pretty well in the night, during 
which we passed Abbéville, where there is said to be 
