272 A WILD HORSE. 



so named after his former owner) was put up for ten days and well at- 

 tended to. The time of my departure having arrived, I mounted him ; 

 and set off at the rate of four miles an hour ; — but here I must give you 

 the line of my journey, that you may, if you please, follow my course 

 on some such map as that of Tanner's. From Henderson through 

 Russellville, Nashville, and Knoxville, Abington in Virginia, the Natural 

 Bridge, Harrisonburgh, Winchester and Harper's Ferry, Frederick and 

 Lancaster to Philadelphia. There I remained four days, after which I 

 returned by way of Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Zanesville, Chillicothe, Lex- 

 ington, and Louisville to Henderson. But the nature of my business 

 was such as to make me deviate considerably from the main roads, and I 

 computed the whole distance at nearly two thousand miles, the post roads 

 being rather more than sixteen hundred. I travelled not less than forty 

 miles a-day, and it was allowed by the Doctor that my horse was in as good 

 condition on my return as when I set out. Such a journey on a single 

 horse may seem somewhat marvellous in the eyes of a European ; but in 

 those days almost every merchant had to perform the like, some from all 

 parts of the western country, even from St Louis on the Missouri, al- 

 though the travellers not unfrequently, on their return, sold their horses 

 at Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Pittsburg, at which latter place they took 

 boat. My wife rode on a single horse from Henderson to Philadelphia, 

 travelling at the same rate. The country was then comparatively new; 

 few coaches travelled, and in fact the roads were scarcely fit for carriages. 

 About twenty days were considered necessary for performing a journey 

 on horseback from Louisville to Philadelphia, whereas now the same dis- 

 tance may be travelled in six or seven days, or even sometimes less, this 

 depending on the height of the water in the Ohio. 



It may be not uninteresting to you to know the treatment which the 

 horse received on those journeys. I rose every morning before day, 

 cleaned my horse, pressed his back with my hand, to see if it had been 

 galled, and placed on it a small blanket folded double, in such a manner 

 that when the latter was put on, half of the cloth was turned over it. The 

 surcingle, beneath which the saddle-bags were placed, confined the blan- 

 ket to the seat, and to the pad behind was fastened the great coat or 

 cloak, tightly rolled up. The bridle had a snaffle bit ; a breastplate was 

 buckled in front to each skirt, to render the seat secure during an ascent ; 

 but my horse required no crupper, his shoulders being high and well- 

 formed. On starting he trotted off at the rate of four miles an hour. 



