TRAVELS 
176 
North in which I have travelled, after a great fall of fnow, is to 
place a fort of triangle of wood, the bafe of which may be about 
eight or ten feet, on rollers, where the paffage is to be, and to have 
this frame drawn forward along the middle by horfes or oxen, the 
acute angle or apex of the triangle being placed foremoft. In this 
manner the fnow lying on the middle of the w T ay is pufhed to the 
fides, and a paffage is thus rendered eafier for the fledges that come 
after. But this triangle removes or diminiffies only the quantity 
of fnow in the middle of the road, fo that the travellers who after¬ 
wards may pafs that way make another rutt or furrow, proportion- 
able to the width of their fledges: and as the fecond follows al¬ 
ways the track of the flrft, this furrow, in the courfe of time, and 
by new falls of fnow accumulating on the fides, becomes fo deep, 
that it forms a kind of cafe which admits only fledges of the fame 
dimenfion. Having weighed all thefe difficulties, and every ob- 
ffacle and difadvantage we could think of, we refoived to content 
ourfelves with fuch fledges of the peafants, as we might obtain 
from one poft-houfe to another, and to travel in this manner as 
far as Abo, where we might purchafe Finland fledges in the coun¬ 
try itfclf, and purfue our journey in our own equipage, fuch as it 
would be, in order to avoid the inconvenience of fo frequently 
moving and flowing our luggage. We flattered ourfelves that 
this expedient was the beft, and fet out perfectly fatisfied with 
the refolution we had taken. 
We departed from Stockholm on the lOth of March, l/QQ, at 
fcvcn o’clock in the morning, paffing through the north gate. 
Enveloped 
