468 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the stilts. Resting after this fashion, the stiltsman appears as 

 if seated on a gigantic tripod. When he stops, he knits or spins 

 on the distaff which he carries in his belt. 



His usual costume is made up of a kind of sleeveless vest of 

 sheepskin, linen gaiters, and a drugget cloak. On his head he 

 wears a Uret or a large hat. This outfit was formerly supple- 

 mented with a gun for defending the sheep against wolves, and a 

 frying-pan in which to prepare dinner.* 



The appearance of the Landais peasants is extremely pictur- 

 esque, but their life is miserable ; they are generally puny and thin, 

 badly fed, and often threatened by fever. Mounted on their stilts, 

 they lead their sheep across the Landes, going over the bushes 

 and herbs, the little ponds, and safely crossing the marshes, with- 

 out having to look for roads or beaten paths. This elevation, 

 moreover, permits them easily to overlook their sheep, which are 

 often dispersed over a considerable surface. To put on his stilts 

 in the morning, the shepherd sits on the window-sill or climbs 

 upon the chimney-piece ; and even when he is in the open field 

 he can attach them while sitting on the ground, and then rise 

 with the assistance of his third stick. 



Locomotion on stilts is evidently calculated to suggest peril 

 to persons who are accustomed to walking only on the feet. We 

 estimate the possible danger of a fall from the height of these 

 implements from our experiences of ordinary pedestrians' falls ; 

 but the Landais, habituated from infancy to this sort of exercise, 

 acquire extraordinary ease and skill in it. The tclmngue is per- 

 fectly able to preserve his equilibrium; he marches with long 

 strides, halts in a standing position, runs with agility, or executes 

 an occasional acrobatic turn, picking up a stone from the ground, 

 plucking a flower, pretending to fall and rise quickly, or running 

 in a lock-step, etc. 



The speed attained by stiltsmen is easily explained, when we 

 regard the superior length of the stride which they can make 

 without enlarging the angle of separation of the legs. 



When the Empress Josephine went to meet Napoleon at Ba- 

 yonne in 1808, the municipality sent a company of young Landais 

 stiltsmen to escort her. Turning back, they very easily kept up 

 with her carriages, although the horses trotted rapidly. During 

 her sojourn at Bayonne, the shepherds on their stilts gave much 

 amusement to the ladies of the court. They ran races, threw 

 money on the ground and all tried to pick it up at once, and per- 

 formed many exercises of cunning and skill, accompanied with 

 frequent falls. Until very recently hardly any festivals took 



* A representation from Nature, of a shepherd of the Landes on his stilts, can be seen 

 in the hall of the Provinces of France, at the Ethnological Museum of the Trocadero. 



