It Is Quite Ridiculous To See What Small Loads Of Corn,
Bricks, Or Wood, Are Allotted To Two Horses, And How Slowly And
Sleepily They Draw Their Burdens.
The number of wooden gates, which divide the roads into as many
parts as there are common grounds on it, are a terrible nuisance to
travellers.
The coachman has often to dismount six or eight times
in an hour to open and close these gates. I was told that these
delectable gates even exist on the great high road, only not quite
in such profusion as on the by-roads.
Wood must be as abundant here as in Norway, for every thing is
enclosed; even fields which seem so barren as not to be worth the
labour or the wood.
The villages through which I passed were generally pretty and
cheerful, and I found the cottages, which I entered while the horses
were changed, neatly and comfortably furnished.
The peasants of this district wear a peculiar costume. The men, and
frequently also the boys, wear long dark-blue cloth surtouts, and
cloth caps on their heads; so that, at a distance, they look like
gentlemen in travelling dress. It seems curious to a foreigner to
see these apparent gentlemen following the plough or cutting grass.
At a nearer view, of course the aspect changes, and the rents and
dirt appear, or the leathern apron worn beneath the coat, like
carpenters in Austria, becomes visible. The female costume was
peculiar only in so far that it was poor and ragged.
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