Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/302

 moderately rich walks on foot so far as the fourth or fifth house from his own without his horse being led in attendance. In winter time, however, when they cannot use their horses without danger on account of the ice, for they are unshod, or on occasions when they may have to go to the prince's palace, or to the temples of the saints, they generally leave their horses at home. Gentlemen always sit within their own houses, and seldom or never transact business walking. They used to wonder extremely when they saw us walking in our hotels, and frequently transacting business while we were walking.

The prince has post stations in all parts of his dominions, with a regular number of horses at the different places, so that when the royal courier is sent anywhere, he may immediately have a horse without delay; and the courier has authority to choose any horse he pleases. When I was making a rapid journey from Great Novogorod to Moscow, the post-master, who in their language is called jamschnick, would have sometimes thirty and occasionally forty or fifty horses brought out to me the first thing in the morning, when there was no need of more than twelve. Each of my people, therefore, took the horse which he thought would best suit him, and when they were tired we constantly changed them on reaching another inn on the road (they call their inns jama), but kept the same saddle and bridle. Every one is at liberty to ride at full speed, and if his horse happen to fall, or can go on no longer, he may take another with impunity from the first house he comes to, or from any one he may chance to meet, the prince's courier alone excepted. If, however, a horse be exhausted and left on the road, the jamschnick requires restoration; and it is customary to give another to him from whom it was taken, or to pay a price according to the length of the journey. Six dengs are generally reckoned for from ten to twenty wersts.