I Was Told That The Storthing Only Contained
Three Or Four Good Speakers, And They Did Not Display Their Talents
During My Stay.
I have never seen such a variety of carriages as I met with here.
The commonest and most incommodious are called Carriols.
A carriol
consists of a narrow, long, open box, resting between two immensely
high wheels, and provided with a very small seat. You are squeezed
into this contrivance, and have to stretch your feet forward. You
are then buckled in with a leather apron as high as the hips, and
must remain in this position, without moving a limb, from the
beginning to the end of your ride. A board is hung on behind the
box for the coachman; and from this perch he, in a kneeling or
standing position, directs the horses, unless the temporary resident
of the box should prefer to take the reins himself. As it is very
unpleasant to hear the quivering of the reins on one side and the
smacking of the whip on the other, every one, men and women, can
drive. Besides these carriols, there are phaetons, droschkas, but
no closed vehicles.
The carts which are used for the transport of beer are of a very
peculiar construction. The consumption of beer in Christiania is
very great, and it is at once bottled when made, and not sold in
casks. The carts for the transport of these bottles consist of
roomy covered boxes a foot and a half high, which are divided into
partitions like a cellaret, in which many bottles can be easily and
safely transported from one part to another.
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