WE set out from Riga in the evening of Saturday, November 18, N.S. 1815, our equipages consisting of a Polish britchka, and three kibitkas; our party in number were eleven, including two English, and a Russian servant. If our thoughts had not been occupied by a crowd of more serious ideas at the outset of this our long and adventurous journey, the sight of these novel carriages, and our own appearance, huddled up in different sorts of fur shubes, so heavy and so cumbrous that we could scarcely walk beneath their weight, would all have afforded subject for laughter and burlesque ; though it was only the preparation for the outset, and the packing into the carriages, that excited risibility; for the moment they began to move over the rough-paved streets of Riga, the jolting was so intolerable, that it threatened to dislocate our joints ; and the first half hour of our drive made me look forward with dread, and almost despair, to its termination.
A britchkais in form just like a small English waggon, and upon wheels about the height and size of the little cole-seed waggons: it is made with acalash (or head) likeour barouches, which can be thrown back occasionally, and an apron of leather fastening up to within a foot of the top of the hood ; within side two curtains of leather draw, and shut one up completely from the cold; to make which more secure, a mat is then put over the head of the carriage, and tied on, so as to admit of its being fastened down over the apron at night, and thrown back in the day. I always objected to this, which seemed to threaten suffocation, and never submitted to it, but when the extreme cold made it indispensible. At the bottom of the carriage is packed as much luggage as it will conveniently hold, and over that is laid a bed, or mattrass, with pillows, blankets, &c. The ascending and settling into this machine, is really of itself a great undertaking ; but I must acknowledge, that a better acquaintance with its merits than the first hour afforded me, has mademe certain, that in none of our English carriages could I have passed so long a journey with so little fatigue. A kibitka is very similar in form, but not so large within, or so good looking without, as the carriage I have just described : they are both without springs.
Before we left Riga, our passports given by the Russain ambassador in England, were exchanged for what is in Russian called a podoroshna, in which billet is expressed the name of the person to whom it is given ; the place from whence he starts ; that to which he is going ; and the number of horses for which he has paid a share of the progone, or post-money : on giving this passport, we paid for 1898 versts, (a verst being three-quarters ofan English mile) at two kopeeks per verst, for each horse, in all 456 rubles ; the ruble was then in value about d. but unlike our English money, it varies according to the credit of paper money, which is now extremely low.
The letting of post-horses, is a place of considerable emolument under government. The passport being sent to the post station, they are then obliged to furnish horses, as soon as they have the number required at home, and ready : should there not be at home so many as are needed, (which a Russian can easily ascertain from the books, or a stranger from a visit to the stables), the travellers must then unavoidably wait till one hour after the return of the horses, that time being given to rest and feed them : in the books kept at all these stations, are registered the passport of the traveller, and the date of his arrival there ; they are always open for inspection, and a complaint of any kind entered in those books, must unavoidably be sentwith them to Petersburgh, where they are sent at stated times to be inspected. The occupiers of these stations (in Russian, stantsie) are generally officers of about the rank of lieutenant, and sometimes higher, in the Russian service : they are stationed atfrom twelve, to twenty, or sometimes thirty versts asunder ; and under their inspection and care, a certainnumber ofhorses are kept by government, proportioned to the common demand for them on that part of the road.