This was a
most troublesome affair. At half-past 6 in the evening we arrived at
Brownsville, having been ten hours in getting over the 56 miles from
Pittsburg.
And now for the stage-coaches; for, _nolens volens_, "a-head" we must
go that very night. About seven or eight coaches were filled by those
of our fellow-passengers who, like ourselves, were going to cross the
mountains. Some of the vehicles set off immediately; but three waited
to let their passengers get tea or supper, meals which in America are
identical. About 8 P.M. we started on our cold and dreary journey of 73
miles across the Alleghany Mountains. A stage-coach in America is a
very different thing from the beautiful machine that used to pass by
that name in England.
It has no outside accommodation, except for one person on the box along
with the driver. The inside, in addition to the fore seat and the hind
seat, has also a middle seat across the vehicle. Each of these three
seats holds three persons, making nine in all. In our stage we had ten
persons; but the ten, in a pecuniary point of view, were only eight and
a half. The night was fearfully dark, and the roads were altogether
unworthy of the name.
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