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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
71
As
with
the
postboys,
so
with
the
runners;
the
surveyors
seem
to
have
had
some
trouble
in
keeping
them
to
their
prescribed
duties,
as
will
be
gathered
from
the
following
report
written
in
the
year
1800:
"I
found
it
had
been
the
general
practice
for
the
post
from
Bonaw
to
Appin
to
lodge
regularly
all
night
at
or
near
the
house
of
Ardchattan,
and
did
not
cross
Shien
till
the
following
morning,
losing
twelve
hours
to
the
Appin,
Strontian,
and
Fort
William
districts
of
country;
and
I
consider
it
an
improvement
of
itself
to
remove
such
private
lodgings
or
accommodations
out
of
the
way
of
posts,
which,
as
I
have
been
informed,
is
sometimes
done
for
the
sake
of
perusing
newspapers,
as
well
as
answering
or
writing
letters."
Nor
was
the
speed
of
the
foot-posts--in
some
cases,
at
any
rate--very
much
to
boast
of,
these
humble
messengers
being
at
times
heavily
weighted
with
the
correspondence
they
had
to
carry.
In
the
year
1805,
before
the
Dumbarton
to
Inveraray
mail
service
was
raised
to
the
dignity
of
a
horse-post,
the
surveyor,
in
referring
to
the
necessity
for
the
employment
of
horses,
thus
deplores
the
situation:
"I
have
sometimes
observed
these
mails,
at
leaving
Dumbarton,
about
three
stones
or
forty-eight
pounds
weight,
and
they
are
generally
above
two
stones.
During
the
course
of
last
winter,
horses
were
obliged
to
be
occasionally
employed;
and
it
is
often
the
case
that
a
strong
Highlander,
with
so
great
weight
on
him,
cannot
travel
more
than
two
miles
an
hour,
which
greatly
retards
the
general
correspondence
of
this
extensive
district
of
country."
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