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relay horses: The fourth, on post; the fifth, in horses & carriages. The last four are ordered lodging & men assigned to each city & station, from three leagues to three leagues, who are obliged to keep all these manners of equipage ready at all times at such a price that the Magistrates direct according to the time, dearness & abundance of provisions, always making sure that they can draw honest profit by serving the public, the payment that is ordered being written on a tablet on the doors of the lodgings, which are visited very often by the civil Centeniers to see if the mounts are good & in such number as it is ordered, & if such carriers do not demand anything from the travelers beyond & above what they owe & finding offenders, they are punished without appeal according to the rigor of the order. As for the inns where one lodges, they are as numerous as is necessary, according to the passages, concourses & demands of the people; They only provide rooms, beds, & firewood for a fee, hay, straw, & oats for the horses, each bed is charged at two sols per night, for the expense of providing linens & tableware: if one only dines, one pays only one sol, straw & hay are sold by the pound & oats by the |
