It is indeed a large jump from free America, the home of the most unlimited progress, into the Flowery Kingdom, where cues are worn, but we hope our readers are willing to accompany us, in order to have the pleasure of seeing how rapidly a Chinese mail carrier (Fig. 20) trots along his route under his sun umbrella. Only the largest and most robust pedestrians are chosen for service, and they are obliged to pass through a severe course of training before they can lay any claim to the dignified name, "Thousand Mile Horse." [Illustration: FIG. 18.--SORTING ROOM IN BERLIN POST OFFICE.] But even the Chinese carrier may not strike us so curiously as another associate, given in our next picture, Fig. 21, and yet he is a European employe from the Landes department of highly cultivated France. The inhabitants of this country buckle stilts on to their feet, so as to make their way faster through brambles and underbrush which surrounds them. The mail carrier copied them in his equipment, and thus he goes around on stilts, provided with a large cane to help him keep his balance, and furnishes a correct example of a post office official suiting the demands of every district. While the mail in Europe has but little to do with the transportation of passengers, it is important in its activity in this respect in the large Russian empire. [Illustration: FIG. 19.--DOG POST AT LAKE SUPERIOR.] The tarantass (Fig. 22), drawn by three nimble horses, flies through the endless deserts with wind-like rapidity. The next illustration (Fig. 23) leads us to a much more remote and deserted country, "Post office on the Booby Island," occupied only by birds, and a hut containing a box in which are pens, paper, ink, and wafers. The mariners put their letters in the box, and look in to see if there is anything there addressed to them, then they continue their journey. Postage stamps are not demanded in this ideal post office, but provision is made for the shipwrecked, by a notice informing them where they can find means of nourishment. Once again we make a leap. The Bosnian mail carrier's equipment (Fig. 24) is, or rather was, quite singular, for our picture was taken before the occupation. This mounted mail carrier with his weapons gives one the impression of a robber. The task of conducting the mail through the Alps of Switzerland (Fig. 25) must be uncomfortable in winter, when the sledges glide by fearful precipices and over snow-covered passes. Since the tariff union mail developed from the Prussian mail, and the world's mail from the tariff union, it seems suitable to close our series of pictures by representing the old Prussian postal service (Fig. 26) carried on by soldier postmen in the eighteenth century during the reign of Frederick the Great. [Illustration: FIG. 20.--CHINESE POSTMAN.] [Illustration: FIG. 21.--DELIVERING LETTERS IN LANDES DEPARTMENT, FRANCE.] [Illustration: FIG. 22.--RUSSIAN EXTRA POST.]