The carriage, which was drawn by three horses abreast, went on very rapidly through these scenes—so rapidly, in fact, that Mrs. Gray had not time to look at the various groups as much as she wished.
"I mean to come and take a walk here some day," said Mrs. Gray, "and then I can look at all these things at my leisure."
"O mother," said Josie, "you can't do that very well, on account of the beggars. If a gentleman and lady attempt to walk together in any of these streets of Naples, the beggars come and gather around them at every step."
"Then I'll come some day in a carriage, and tell the coachman to drive slowly."
"That will be just as bad," said Josie. "They'll come then around the carriage. The only way is to drive so fast that they cannot keep up."
The carriage went on. It followed the road which led along the shore, as shown in the map given in a former chapter to illustrate the situation of Naples; but the shore was occupied with such a succession of hamlets and villages that the road seemed to form a continued street all the way. After getting a little beyond the confines of Naples, the road was thronged with people coming into town, some on foot, with loads of produce on their heads, some driving donkeys, with immense burdens of vegetables loaded in panniers on their backs, or drawn in carts behind them. There were omnibuses too, of a peculiar kind, filled with people, and a kind of carriage called a calash, which consisted of a sort of chaise, with an extended frame for people to stand upon all around it. The first class passengers in these calashes had seats in the chaise itself. The others stood up all around, and clung on as best they could to the back of the seat before them.
Our party met a great many of these calashes coming into town, and bringing in loads of country people.
"It is astonishing," said Rollo, "that one horse can draw so many people."
"It is because the road is so level and smooth," said Mr. George. "The wheels run almost as easy upon it as they would upon a railroad."