Communications and travel. The Fly River facilitates the fastest mail service in Umbagollah. A good Ferryperson with the weather in their favour can carry a letter from one end of the country to the other in less time than you would believe. Letters are tightly sealed inside waterproof tubes. After a ferryist has been working for a while, she - or he - will develop a personal sign which they will use to mark each of their tubes. Ferrypeope carry a mental list of all these signs along with the collection of family lore, suspicious pride and arcana which circulates within their heads. If a tube floats off it can always be traced back to its owner by another ferryperson. The ferryists will also carry parcels and passengers. They travel between Ex and Gum Gooloo, stopping off at smaller villages along the way. The best way to summon a ferryperson is to stand on the bank of the river, shouting and gesticulating. Ear infections are common among them, a legacy of their fondness for swimming, so don't rely on shouting alone. However, the riverways only reach a small part of Umbagollah. Cross-country messages are carried either by independant people ("I hear you're going to Wrinkle, would you care to take a letter with you?") or professional messengers who spend their working lives sprinting across the country on their fleet long-leggity beasties. Beasties are bred mainly in Gum Gooloo province or the North-West Flatlands, and sold in all of the main cities and towns except Cumber Poidy. There are no restrictions on owning a beastie, but they are skittish creatures and not always easy to ride. The narrowness of their backs makes the transportation of large parcels difficult. Exceptionally big objects are sometimes carried on sleds dragged along the road by several animals, but sending them by river is much more convenient. Messengers carry their own bedrolls with them. Independant travellers would be wise to do the same. The town of Jail is the most popular overnight stopping place in the country, followed by the village of Locked on the Locked Bridge which crosses the Fly near the Forest of Ex. The Brilliants family, who have established a monopoly on hotels and stables within Jail, actively discourage other towns from accepting travellers, which means that finding overnight accommodation anywhere else within the North-West Flatlands or in the northern parts of the Province of Gum Gooloo will be difficult. The Major Overland Travelling Routes.