FROM PETERSBURG 
sledge, following us, conveyed the wheels. It 
is proper to describe our mode of travelling, 
that others may derive advantage from it. If 
the journey be confined to countries only where 
sledges are used, the common method adopted 
by the inhabitants is always the best ; but if a 
passage be desired with ease and expedition 
from one climate to another, some contrivance 
should secure the traveller from the rigours of 
the seasons, without impeding his progress by 
superfluous burthen. For this purpose, the 
kind of carriage called a Gentian batarde is most 
convenient. A delineation of one of these is 
given in the work of Reichard 1 , who also men- 
tions the expense of building it in Vienna, 
where those carriages are made for one-fourth 
of the money required by the London coach- 
makers; and they answer every purpose of 
travelling, full as well as vehicles made in 
England. The batarde is nothing more than an 
English chariot with a dormeuse, advancing in 
front, and made sufficiently high to furnish a 
commodious seat for two persons on the out- 
side, upon the springs. We caused the driver 
to sit upon the trunk in front ; but it would be 
better to provide for him a little chair raised for 
that purpose. The door of the dormeuse within 
(l) Guide des Voyageurs en Europe, tom. ii. planche 1, 
