WINTER TRAVEL AT DAVOS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2671, 24 August 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

WINTER TRAVEL AT DAVOS.

I cannot do better than give some account of my personal experience upon the mountain roads. With this object in view, it will be well to describe the mode of travelling in use here. The snow trucks which cross the; higher passes arc very narrow ; and fo;' this reason, low open sledges drawn by one horse aro employed. The sledge is a box shaped somewhat liko a car in a merry-go-round, into which a pair of travellers are shut by moans of a wooden frame or lid moving up or down on binges. This lid rises to the, breast of the seated person, and protects his legs from the falling- snow. The upper part of the body is exposed. When the. sledge upsets, which is not uinfrequently the case, the whole falls quietly "ipon one side and discharges its contents. The wooden frame or lid, being movable ou its hinges, enables a man to disengage himself with difficulty. The driver stands upon a ledge behind, passing the reins between the shoulders of the passengers. There are no springs to the vehicle, which pumps and thumps solidly in the troughs of road, dispelling all illusions as to the facile motion of a sledge. If it is necessary to pass another vehicle, the horse plunges up to its belly iu soft snow upon one side, then he struggles furiously, gains his feet, and lifts the sledge with a quick .spasmodic effort to the beaten track again. These sledge.; carry no luggage. A second hursrt is used, who follows close behind, and draw a truck on runners laden with all kinds of baggage. He has no driver ; and the tho result is that these luggage slcdycs frequently upset. It is always safer t-> travel with the post in winter, because the horses know each yard of the road from one stage to ano'hei , . But a nervous traveller may even thus be exposed to trials of his courage ; for economy makes tho postmaster provide the smallest possible number of postillions, and passengers are sometimes sent across a mountain in a sledge with a driver, fnl lowing the sledge in front. I once, crossed the Julierin a dark night of January without a postillion and without any reins to guide the horse by. My reason told mo that tho horse know his business bettor than I did. But, none the less, I felt forlornly helpless when he was floundering about in the. depths of suow I could noc realise. It is always bett to tike tilings as they come, however; and I comforted myself by reflecting that even an Englishman is a parcel which postmasters aro bound to deliver safely at its destination.—From Snow, and Avalanche, in the Cornliill Magan'iie.