WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 5 



a human being. Still, the high perch and the narrow aperture 

 have their advantages, though at first sight the stranger would be 

 puzzled to know how ; but let him cast his eye upon the floor of 

 the house, and he will see that the pig, the black sheep, and the 

 little black cow wallow in a mire of Augean filth, if not of magni- 

 tude. On inquiry, too, he will find that, ever and anon, the wolf 

 not only knocks at the door, but walks in ; that, if he cannot gain 

 admittance by fair means he. will by foul ; he scratches a hole in 

 the broom roof, and, bailiff-like, descends upon his victims. This 

 is no imaginary danger; the thing has occurred over and over 

 again to the Sabottiers of Dualt and Huel-goed, vast forests in the 

 neighbourhood of Carhaix. The garde-du-foret of the former, a 

 fine intelligent Breton, pointed out to me a spot in which he said 

 a " wolf tragedy " had occurred within the last two years. 



Before, however, I narrate the story, which I will endeavour 

 to do in the garde's own words, I will presume on the reader's 

 indulgence, and describe as concisely as I can the Forest of 

 Dualt. As its name implies in the Breton and Welsh language 

 " black rock," it is, indeed, one pile of granite tors, far wilder and 

 more imposing than those of Dartmoor, rising one above the 

 other in endless variety ; huge solitary slabs standing, like giants 

 on guard, in an upright and menacing attitude ; while others form 

 cromlechs and dolmens, under which a she-wolf might lay up her 

 young, or a Druid deposit the last relics of his race. As we sat 

 together on a block of sparkling granite, the garde, Frangois 

 Postollec, called my attention to a Sabottier's cabin built upon the 

 edge of a clump of beech-trees, and surrounded, like Robinson 

 Crusoe's hut, with a strong stake fence. 



" Ah, well, poor Antoine needs those barriers," said he, " for 

 the wolves have robbed him already, and they'll rob him again 

 this winter, I fear, in spite of his palisade." 



" What ! " cried I, " are the wolves so daring as to attack a 

 man's dwelling-place ? " 



