At Bukorest, under the wooden pavements, to which the natives give the more appropriate name of _bridges_, there are large kennels, which receive the filth of the houses, and are meant to convey it to the river Dimbovitza, which runs through the town. Hardly any care is taken to keep the different passages open, and the accumulation of dirty substances frequently stops them up; in this state they sometimes remain for months in the hot season, during which they produce the most noxious exhalations, and occasion fevers of a putrid and malignant nature,—diseases to which the natural position of the town must alone dispose a great part of the inhabitants. It has been long supposed, and it is still considered impossible to pave the streets with stone, not so much on account of the scarcity of the material, as owing to the ground being of a soft clay, which offers no hold to it. This idea, very prevalent among the natives, is certainly erroneous, and there cannot exist a more convincing proof of it, than the stone pavements constructed by Trajan and the Romans, which have so firmly withstood the destructive hand of time. From a certain distance, and on elevated ground, the city of Bukorest offers itself to the view with great advantage; the mixture of the houses and trees give it a peculiar beauty; but it is like the fine scenery of a theatre which charms the distant eye, and on being approached is found to be a coarse daub. As late as thirty years back, the Boyars were in the habit of visiting each other, and going to court on horseback, and the women of the most opulent only, went in coaches. Within that period, the fashion of riding in coaches has so increased, and it is now so universal, that no person of either sex, who has claims to respectability, can pass the gates of his house otherwise than in a coach, even in the finest weather. The Boyars consider it derogatory to their dignity to make use of their legs, and leave to the mob the vulgar practice of walking. The consequence is, that the streets, about seven or eight yards wide, are always full of carriages, and frequent accidents happen to the unfortunate pedestrians. The kind of carriage most in use, is the German calèche; and the Boyars have introduced the fashion of having theirs ornamented in the most gaudy manner; but as they do not so much regard the beauty of the horses and harness, nor the dress of the coachman, it is very common to meet in the streets a carriage glittering with gold, drawn by a pair of miserable hacks, and driven by a gypsy in rags.