WATERCOLOUR #12
The Journal records several such accidents.
Once the horse and carriage went over the edge of a precipice, but were saved by
a sapling, bent but not broken.
Asbury and his companion pulled them all back "after a pretty heavy
lift."
"Our feelings were more excited for others than for ourselves," they
said, as they saw the clothes of another party drying out after a fall into the
river.
Asbury's concern for his horses was often greater than
the attention he gave to his own comfort.
"My poor horse, so weak from want of food, fell down with me twice; this
hurt my feelings exceedingly - more than any circumstance I met with in all my
journey," he wrote.
The roads were rough tracks, full of mudholes, with
tree stumps and boulders beside them.
The trick for successful travelling was to drive half on the grass, avoiding
trees on the side and deep mud in the centre.
Sometimes the way was trackless; but Asbury could "bush it" - bend
thin saplings aside and ride through thickets.
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