“We travelled certainly with speed,” says Madame Pfeiffer of the _taranta_, in her _Journey round the World_, “but any one who had not a body of iron, or a well-cushioned spring carriage, would not find this very agreeable, and would certainly prefer to travel slower upon these uneven, bad roads. The post-carriage, for which ten kopecs a station is paid, is nothing more than a very short wooden open car, with four wheels. Instead of a seat some hay is laid in it, and there is just room enough for a small chest, upon which the driver sits. These cars naturally jolt very much. There is nothing to take hold of, and it requires some care to avoid being thrown out. The draught consists of three horses abreast; over the centre one a wooden arch is fixed, on which hang two or three bells, which continually made a most disagreeable noise. In addition to this, imagine the rattling of the carriage, and the shouting of the driver, who is always in great activity urging on the poor animals, and it may be easily understood that, as is often the case, the carriage arrives at the station without the travellers.” Even less “genteel” than the _taranta_ was the _kibitka_, “a common posting-waggon,” according to Stratton, “consisting of a huge frame of unhewn sticks, fastened firmly upon two axles, the fore part of it having underneath a solid block of hard wood, on which it rests, elevating it so as to allow the wheels to play.” Other Russian carriages were the _teleka_, the _telashka_, and the better-known _droitzschka_, or, as it was known in England, _drosky_—an improvement originally of the sledge by the mere addition of springs and wheels. In Norway the _carriole_ was very similar to the original French gig, and like the _char-à-cote_ of Switzerland, was long and narrow and peculiarly adapted for mountainous countries. But in nearly all the colder regions, wheel carriages were scarcely used at all, the snow making some kind of sledge far more convenient. Captain King, in his _Journey across Asia_, gives a detailed description of the sledges then in use (1784) in Kamtschatka.