it seemed, I rashly entered mine, and having
firmly wedged myself in among the loose
sticks and boards of which it was composed,
I courageously gave the word to start, and
prepared to suffer patiently, trusting in
Providence for the rest.

We went off at a furious gallop over ruts,
stones, holes in the earth, anything that came
in our way. I was bumped about like a
tennis-ball in the hands of a juggler. When
I literally dared not hold out any longer I
shouted to the post-boy to stop. Unaccustomed
to such a command at the beginning
of a journey, he misinterpreted it into an
angry order to go on, and plied his whip with
such vigour and good will, that we flew over
the uneven ground faster than ever, and my
shouts were drowned in wind and rain, with
the clatter of hoofs, and the whirr of wheels.
At last, however, when a little patch of mud
deeper than the rest compelled a momentary
halt, I made one more desperate effort to
make myself heard, and succeeded. I really
felt as if rescued from serious and certain
danger when I got out of that rattling,
chattering, abominable little cart. I do not even
now believe that I could possibly have
reached Bucharest alive in it, My companion,
however (some fifteen years younger
than I am), was of a different opinion, and
leaving me to find my way back to Giurgevo,
and look for a better carriage, he determined
to go on in the post-cart. So, we parted, and
I returned: making rather a sorry figure as I
plodded on through mud and rain cloaked
and great-coated to the chin.

And now I found the benefit of having
formed so agreeable an acquaintance with
mine host's mother-in-law. That excellent
old lady received me with .every demonstration
of satisfaction at my return. She dried
my clothes and condoled with me on my
bumping: the more readily that it gave her
an opportunity of contemptuously contrasting
the mad little Wallachian post-carts, with
the dark, snug, slow, drowsy diligences of
her own country. She invited me into the
kitchen to enjoy a glass of kirsch wasser, and
discuss these subjects more at large. I found
it a perfect rendezvous for the gossips of the
town. I had quite an invigorating talk with
them, and soon learned all the scandal and
private histories of the neighbourhood.

It appeared to me that the Wallachians
considered scandalous gossip the great
business of life. I never heard so good-
humoured laughing abuse of absent people.
They used the strongest and bitterest
language in the vocabulary, yet there was
no spite in it. They would call a man a
scoundrel in such a gay, pleasant, debonnaire,
way, that if he were present even he could
hardly feel offended at it. Perhaps the
worst part of all this was, that no person's
acts or words ever seemed, among them, to
be fair evidence of his real intentions. Their
quick penetrating minds, and lively imaginations
were always straining to discover some
hidden motive very far beyond the
comprehension of ordinary people. Here, and here
only, they resembled the Greeks. In fact,
the Wallachians writhed so long under the
disastrous rule of those amazing rogues the
Greek Phanariote princes, that one can
scarcely wonder they should have doubted
the sincerity and honesty of all mankind ever
since. Doubt, indeed, has become the natural
habit of their minds; they doubt of everything
merely because they really cannot
help it.

Growing tired of my company at last, I set
about hiring a more convenient carriage.
There was no difficulty in this; a covered
leathern conveniency, without springs, such
as is used by the more substantial and
well-to-do Wallachians, was soon obtained; but it
was by no means an easy affair to get horses.
The constant movement of troops in these
countries has literally used up all the horses.
Unhappily, the same wretched system of
giving government orders for horses, and
compelling the poor peasantry to furnish,
them at a price altogether beneath their
fair-value, exists here, as that which is called
"vorspann" in Hungary. Every person of
the smallest importance is furnished with,
one of these infamous orders for horses whenever
he pleases to travel. The peasantry dare
not disobey them, and so their horses are
dragged from ploughing the land or carting
home the harvest, to be harnessed to a traveller's
carriage at an hour's notice, and are made
to gallop over a rough country at such a pace,
that they are often useless for days
afterwards, while the remuneration fixed by law
is shamefully inadequate. I mention this,
because I trust that any of our countrymen,
who may obtain government orders for
horses, will always consider it absolutely
their duty to pay at least double the price
required of them. After spending the
remainder of the afternoon, therefore, in a vain,
search for horses, a tradesman was at length,
induced to lend us his, on the distinct
understanding that they should be fed and rested
half-way. They were a sorry pair, all skin and
bone and crookedness. It may be as well
to mention that the Wallachian horses are
smaller than those common in Turkey;
and although they possess much endurance,
and can live on the hardest and scantiest
fare, have neither fire nor vigour. And,
indeed, it is very notable that there is a general
weakness and want of courage observable
among all the animals of the Principalities.
Even the Wallachian wolf, the wild boar, and
the bear, are not the savage and ferocious,
animals which are found under corresponding
names in other countries. Perhaps the damp
climate, and the exhalations from the endless
marshes, may have an enervating effect on
them; at least, this is the cause to which Mr
Consul Wilkinson, I perceive, has traced this
remarkable peculiarity.