24 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



thought different from Kestrels ; but we could not get 

 them. 



We got a good male Eed-breasted Merganser, which 

 Herr Fleischer bought from a boy. 



We skinned our birds, but most of our afternoon was 

 lost in waiting to see a peasant wedding procession leave 

 the village. We had a weary wait while the good folks 

 were liquoring up, but the sight was well worth waiting 

 for. 



The men had little costume — dark blue clothes, some 

 with silver coin buttons — but the ladies were gorgeous. 



Most of the women rode on curious old-fashioned side- 

 saddles, but the bride (in her gorgeous tinsel crown, silver 

 overlaid with gilt, and with many loose ornaments hanging 

 down from the edges) sat astride the horse, and seemed to 

 have quite a comfortable seat, much more so, indeed, than 

 many of the cavaliers who preceded the marriage party as 

 convoy. The latter sawed most unmercifully at their 

 horses' heads, with hands wide apart and almost at a level 

 with their heads, their legs stretched at full length with or 

 without stirrups, and at the same elevation as the horses' 

 shoulders, while their bodies lay backwards at an angle 

 considerably less than 45°. The faces of some expressed 

 great bodily anguish ! 



These gentlemen rode as fast as they couldi— faster 

 than their ' heste ' — about a couple of hundred yards 

 from the town, and when the marriage party passed and 

 had almost gone out of sight, gave three cheers. They 

 then rode backwards and forwards about four or five 

 times before the spectators, who were lining the road on 

 either side. 



One old fellow — 'half-seas over' — stopped his horse 

 beside where Alston and I were perched on the top of 

 two posts, and said something relative to ' to Katugle,' 

 evidently a hit at our costume and position, the ears of 



