The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-10-30
Travelling in Sweden.

A'uNcAHS IN sweden
Beta, the foreign correspondent Of the
Springfield Republican, in a recent letter gives
the following description of the mode of travel.
ing in Sweden:
Ihe posting system in Sweden is q ycry ne.
culiar one. No carriages are furnished excep,
little one-horse cart, without springs, SO that
If you wish to travel with any comfort YOU must
take your own carriage with you, and this must
not only be provided with large pot of grease
hung from the axle beneath it, but also with a
full set of blacksmths tools, to be ready for anv
not 700 extraordinary emergency. Except in q
Few OF the large towns, no horses are kept in
readiness, but when traveller arrives, thev are
brought from the peasants living in the vicini-
tty, who are obliged to furnish them, however
inconvenient it may be- But they are allowed
to keep the traveller waiting three hours. at the
expiration of which time the Station master
must, under heavy penalties, have the horses
ready.
"This possible delay, however, can be entire
~ avoided, by sending what is called 1forbud :
that is, messenger, to say that at such time
you need certain number of horses, and if they
are not then ready, the Station master is sub
Jected to heavy fine; and book is always
provided in which complaints may be written,
and which is examined at fixed intervals by
the proper authorities. Horses may be kept
waiting an hour without any extra charge, after
which the charge is twelve skilings, or six cents
an hour per horse, till at the expiration of Eve
hours, when the peasant is at liberty to take his
morse home. The traveller or his servant is usu-
ally expected to drive, some one, commonly a
boy, going along to take back the horses and
carrying with him huge bundle of hay, or two
or three large crackers made of coarse black
meal, with which to feed them. With one horse
only one person may travel; with two horses,
three In both cases of course not including the
boy,
'The Swedes, when travelling alone, usually
take with them sort of twO-seated, narrow sui
KY, the traveller sitting before and the boy be-
hind, or sometimes, there is merely standing
place for the unfortunate boy. The cost Of
travelling in this manner varies somewhat with
the district OF the country but it is perhaps fair
to give as the average, lS cents per horse per
Swedish mile, which is equivalent to fraction
less than seven English miles On leaving the
large towns, the cost is more, but in the more
remote districts it does not exceed II IL cents
per mile. A forbud' costs the price of one
horse, and with couple of cents you make the
boy as happy as king. At this season of the
year, however, have found it quite unnecessa-
ry to send On a 'forbud,' for have, tin now.
with one or two exceptions, got horses immedi-
ately on my arrival, though occasionally have
been obliged to offer Welve shilling piece ex-
ira, if the horses were there in ten minutes.
I'm this way, l have averaged, inclusive of
the timolost in changing horses, Swedish mile
per hour, rate of speed which is, in part at
least, owing to the excellent roads which seem
to exist all over the country, and in part. also,
to the Swedish horses, which are usually small,
tough-looking little creatures, seldom fed on
anything but hay, and yet seemingly possessed
of great powers of endurance. They go slow mp
hill, bnt make up for this by dashing down even
the steepest hills at a rate which sets an Eng
lishman's hair all on end, and occasionally has
4 strong tendency to cause an Americans to
assume perpendicular position. 1t seems to
be the custom to cut off the horses names quite
short, so as to leave only wild, boar-like crest
standing up along the back of the neck, which,
as you may easily imagine, gives to them pc
culiar appearance. The traveller usually takes
his harness with him. With its rope reins and
other 'fiXins,' it is seldom remarkable for beau
ty, whatever may be its cxcellences in regard
to strength. The traces are never unfastcned
from the whiffle-trces, but by some, to me, quite
obscure process, in which kicking, frisking lift
ing, lowering and swearing are combined in
about equal proportions, the poor animals are
got into and out of the harness."
TRADE AND COMMERCE OF CINCINNATr.-Thc
astonishing progress which Cincinnati is max
ing as commanding emporium OF western
trade and commerce, is strongly shown in an
annual statement for the commercial year end
ing on the 3lst of August, published in the Ga
zette OF the I'd inst. The statement itself is too
long for our columns, but collation. of some Of
the aggregates presented will not be without in
terest to our readers.
Among the principal articles exported from
Cincinnati during the year, were, of pork and
bacon, 43,93s hogsheads, 34,39s tierces, I3l ,56(
barrels, and. in bulk, 3,912, 1884 pounds of -four
1882 barrels of corn, 81, ,23l sacks of cheese
1906 boxes and IS casks; of lard lis, ,S45 kegs
and Al 1862 barrels of butter 81, ,395 firkins and
kegs, and 3,0o5 barrels of iron, 1909 pieces
36,36S bundles, and ii 1929 tons; of secd-fax
Csc, 1913 barrels.
The imports of hogs during the year amount
ed to l60, ,S64 head of pork and bacon, in bulk
to 16, ,532, 1884. The imports of whisky show an
increase of 2S,774 barrels, as compared with the
previous year, and the exports are 276, l24 bar
rels, against 231 1924. The value of the princi-
pal articles imported into Cincinnati during the
year, is estimated at S24,7l5, 331. The value Of
the total imports is not less than $40 1000. .OOO-
No statement of the value of the exports is
given.
The commercial statistics show that 267 diff
fcrent steamboats, arrived at the wharves during
the year, the registered tonnage of which was
6O,543 tons, and their capacity may be set down
at 10000 tons. The total number of arrivals
during the year was about $500. This shows a
slight increase, as compared with 1S5O-5l, but
the aggregate tonnage shows a considerable in
crease in favor of this year-a greater number
of large boats having been engaged in the trade.
During the year, twenty-seven boats and six
barges were built, the total capacity of which is
about nineteen thousand tons. Ten large boats
are still ON the stocks, and not included in this
estimate.
We translate the following from the Kolnische
Zeifung of the 14th ult: I" At the late drawing
of the Spanish State Lottery, eight poor little
Savoyards, who gained their livelihood as shoe
blacks at Barcelona, won the great prize
40, 600 piastres about $50, 600. One Of them
heard OF it while on the way to clean q gentle
mans boots. He went on and finished his work,
took his two quartos about a cent for it, and
then hunted up his companions to give them the
Joyous news. On the way he met the poor
widOw-richin in children of former official, who,
when she was in prosperity, had done much for
the Savoyard, and once when he was sick. had
received him into her house and nursed him.
He now fastened to the widow, and made known
to her his good fortune and the end Oftheir sOr-