. Audubon and his journals [microform]. Birds; Ornithology; Oiseaux; Ornithologie. Tfm ^ EPISODES 219 the western country, even from St. Louis on the Mis- souri, although the travellers not unfrequently, on their return, sold their horses at Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Pittsburg, at which latter place they took boat. My wife rode on a single horse from Henderson to Philadelphia, travelling at the same rate. The country was then com- paratively new; few coaches travelled, and in fact the roads were scarcely fit for carriages. About twenty days were considered necessary for performing a journey
. Audubon and his journals [microform]. Birds; Ornithology; Oiseaux; Ornithologie. Tfm ^ EPISODES 219 the western country, even from St. Louis on the Mis- souri, although the travellers not unfrequently, on their return, sold their horses at Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Pittsburg, at which latter place they took boat. My wife rode on a single horse from Henderson to Philadelphia, travelling at the same rate. The country was then com- paratively new; few coaches travelled, and in fact the roads were scarcely fit for carriages. About twenty days were considered necessary for performing a journey on horseback from Louisville to Philadelphia, whereas now the same distance may be travelled in six or seven days,i or even sometimes less, this depending on the height of the water in the Ohio. It may not be uninteresting to you to know the treat- ment which the horse received on those journeys. I rose every morning before day, cleaned my horse, pressed his back with my hand, to see if it had been galled, and placed on it a small blanket folded double, in such a man- ner that when the saddle was put on, half of the cloth was turned over it. The surcinf;le, beneath which the saddle- bags were placed, confined the blanket to the seat, and to the pad behind was fastened the great coat or cloak, tightly rolled up. The bridle had a snaffle bit; a breast- plate was buckled in front to each skirt, to render the seat secure during an ascent; but my horse required no crup- per, his shoulders being high and well-formed. On start- ing he trotted off at the rate of four miles an hour, which he continued. I usually travelled from fifteen to twenty miles before breakfast, and after the first hour allowed my horse to drink as much as he would. When I halted for breakfast, I generally stopped two hours, cleaned the horse, and gave him as much corn-blades as he could eat. I then rode on until within half an hour of sunset, when I watered him well, poured a bucket of cold water over his back, h
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