THE JOURNEY UP. 41 



answer I addressed him in English, of which lan- 

 guage he was perfect master — in fact, he spoke 

 seven languages fluently. I was invited into his 

 bar-parlour, where I dined off a capital beef- steak, 

 and a bottle of real London porter. I found the 

 old boy excellent company — in fact, I never spent 

 a pleasanter evening in my life. He had evidently 

 feathered his nest well, for his house lay at the 

 junction of four roads, and I saw by his day-book 

 that more than 300 horses had gone from his inn 

 during the last month. 



The next day was Sunday, and we did not 

 leave very early, for old " Allah Akbar" would 

 have a crack with me before I started. The 

 country round here was much more open — in fact, 

 much the same as Wermland, and I found that 

 land was folly as dear. The ground was now 

 becoming very bare, and the patches of young rye 

 which were uncovered looked green and healthy. 

 The horses in this district are excellent, and all 

 the peasants seemed of a better class than those of 

 Wermland. In our first stage from Mo-Myske the 

 old peasant who drove my sledge was a very chatty, 

 intelligent, inquisitive old man, and hearing that I 

 was English, was very curious to know something 

 of " Ye manners and customes of ye English." We 

 conversed on various topics, till at length we 

 touched upon religion ; and after a long controversy 



