Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/143

Rh the intimation to this effect travels from post to post—scarcely any delay is experienced, save that necessary for unharnessing the tired steeds and putting fresh ones to. In general, also, the coucer and lopers are new men; but if not, their pay is the same, the charges being so much per post for each man.

Immediately on the traveller's arrival at a station the cry is for bagnio, and stable-boys run forward with long bamboo cylinders full of water, which they pour over the axle-tree and spokes of the heated wheels. The established rate of payment to the men is twenty-five cents (a quarter rupee) to the coucer, and ten cents to each loper. The horses are paid for at the end of the journey, or before starting.

The postes, or stations, consist generally of simple sheds extending over the road, and supported by four rows of pillars, so arranged as to leave space in the centre for two carriages to stand abreast.