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7
one of the two postillions set out for the post in
quest of reinforcement: he returned about daybreak
with a 3d postilion & 5 supplemental horses in addition
to the 6 we had before. The same scene of whipping,
and shooting and lifting recommended
and with the same success. The additional cattle
seemed rather to have diminished than augmented
our effective strength. Big whips composed of
a short stick and a piece of flinder
pack thread
such as you would tie up half a dozen books
with, no impression capable of lasting beyond
the moment could be made. If then the three postillions
had been perfect timists, with Dr Burney
to lead them, instead of honest Ludwig (which
is my Polish servants name) the effective strength
to be collected out of 11 horses would have
been equal to that of 3: but as it was seldom
that any two hor were struck together or when
struck, pulled in the same direction, how many
fractions of a horse our total effective strength
amounted to for a constancy, is a problem which
I must leave to the Royal Society to solve. Of the sleevelessness
and stupidity and ignorance manifested
upon this and all other similar occasions by these
honest Moldavians, no man whose travels have
been confined to England and the countries which
come next to England, can form a tolerable idea
of all which, having neither implements to operate
with no tongue to speak with, I was obliged
to be an inactive spectator, and, as impatience
would have been useless, I chose to be
a patient one. The country, though bare
and wild and unenclosed, is not so desert as
not to afford here and there a miserable hovel
with a good stock of stout horned cattle:
some such habitations, though not in sight
were fortunately at no great distance. Fortunately
also the experience of the superior virtue
of oxen at a dead pull had made its
way into Moldavia: in process of time 4
of these cattle were procured, and these added
to two of out best horses at the first effort
drew me out of limbo. I reached the port-house
at about 10 or 11 o'clock of the Tuesday
morning (Jan. 10) here I eat a morsel
of bread, and made a dish of milk-less Coffee in
a tin pot tin pot I had brought at Bucharest: the only
refreshment
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Identifier: | JB/540/241/002"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 540. |
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1786-01-16 |
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540 |
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241 |
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002 |
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Correspondence |
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Samuel Bentham |
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