Page:Cornwall; Cambridge county geographies.djvu/112

 96 CORNWALL greatly to the detriment of the town. It still remains as a] port of call for outward-bound sailing-ships. Further up the river is Penryn, which was a town and a port before Falmouth was thought of. The silting up of the river does not now allow other than small boats and barges to reach it. Letters came down on mail coaches, from London through Exeter, by Launceston to Bodmin, and thence to Truro and Falmouth. The rate appointed for the coaches, including stoppages, was bound to be thirteen miles an hour. The mail spun along night and day, without a halt save for change of horses. The stages on an average were eight miles, and the horses, four-in-hand, went at a gallop. The guard wore the royal livery of scarlet, and always had his blunderbus handy, in case of an attempt by highwaymen to hold up his coach. Charlestown and Polmear in St Austell Bay are only important for the trade in china-clay exported thence. Marazion and Penzance, and St Mary's in Scilly only for the conveyance of flowers to London. But these ports and such as are on the north coast are convenient as mouths through which Welsh coal can be imported to feed the cellars and fires in the peninsula. Pilchards also are exported from these little ports to Italy and Spain ; and anciently a considerable trade was carried on between them and France, Spain, and Portugal in wine, and a considerable amount of wine and spirits entered the county through small creeks and coves, into which smugglers conveyed their kegs. The gentry and taverners were kept well supplied with liquor that never paid duty.