On  the  Loire,  for  instance,  at  Roanne,  where  it
began  to  be  navigable,  boats  were  all  built  for
sale,  not  for  hire,  as  they  were  not  expected  to
come  back;  and  the  same  practice  was  in  use
elsewhere.  But  this  must  be  taken  as  a  rule  with
many  exceptions.  On  the  lower  Loire  towing  was
in  regular  use  and  Lady  Fanshawe,  who  tried  it,
right  from  Nantes  to  Orleans,  says,  "of  all  my
travels  none  were,  for  travel  sake,  as  I  may  call
it,  so  pleasant  as  this.'*  They  went  on  shore  to
sleep,  but  kept  to  the  boat  all  daytime,  for  it
possessed  a  "  hearth,'*  a  charcoal  fire  on  which  they
did  the  cooking.  Where  towing  was  most  fre-
quently used  was  probably  Russia,  all  by  hand;


8o  'Touring  in  1600

sometimes  as  many  as  three  hundred  men  were
being  employed  at  once  by  Charles  IPs  ambassa-
dor for  the  six  barges  and  one  boat  between
Archangel  and  Vologda.
When  rowing  was  to  be  done,  the  tourist  found
himself  expected,  practically  compelled,  to  take
his  share  on  the  Elbe  and  the  Rhine,  and  often  on
other  rivers  too.  The  diarist  Evelyn  reckoned  that
he  rowed  twenty  leagues  of  the  distance  between
Roanne  and  Orleans,  and  no  doubt  Edmund
Waller,  the  poet,  did  the  same,  as  he  was  one  of
the  party.  If  any  exemptions  were  made,  it  was
the  boatman  who  exempted  himself.
