58 
MULDIVA 
CHAP. 
tea at Montalbion, one of the barest and most miserable- 
looking places I have ever seen. Thence we went on 
in what they called a “ Buckboard,” a four-wheeled, 
low, hoodless sort of buggy, in which we got the full 
benefit of the sunshine and dust ; such clouds of the 
latter there were that no one could possibly have 
distinguished the colour of anything we had on. 
From Montalbion to our destination we passed over 
the same endless, rocky, gum- tree -dotted hills, one 
of which they call the “ Feather-bed,” because it 
consists of huge round boulders, of which a few only 
have been removed from the track, and here again 
everyone had to get out. 
We changed horses once more, thirty miles from 
Montalbion, at a little hut, rough but very clean, where 
I quenched my thirst with some lime-juice and water, 
the only drinkable liquid I could get. Here we changed 
into a coach again. At the next stopping I asked, “ Had 
they any soda-water, or lemonade, or gingerbeer, etc. ? ” 
“ No, they had none of them fancy drinks ; but would I 
like some sarsaparilla ? ” When we started again 
night was coming on, and we had only one lamp 
available, the heat of the sun having melted the candle 
in the other, and, too tired at last to keep awake any 
longer, and the coachman having put a strap round me 
and fastened me to the coach, I fell asleep ; for how 
long I don’t know, but I was suddenly awakened by a 
bump and a crash : we were off the track, the leader 
was over a log, and the others trying to follow ; they 
were all hopelessly mixed up together among broken 
harness ; I have only an indistinct recollection of their 
bolting, but it is all so hazy that I cannot tell you 
more. We were patched up somehow or other. 
A second time, when we picked up a log in the wheel, 
they bolted, but by this time I did not care what 
