140 WOLF-HUNTING. 



surface of the rugged waste lying between the southern and 

 northern slopes of the mountain range that, covered as it was 

 with stones and stunted heather, the occasional track of a boar's 

 heel, and the long, pointed, claw-scratches of a travelling wolf, 

 were ever and anon revealed to the eye as we trotted along to 

 the cover-side. The hounds, too, as they crossed the frequent 

 line, could with difficulty be restrained from breaking away and 

 carrying the drag over the barren ridge ; so that it was evident 

 no time would be wasted in throwing off, either by drawing 

 unprofitable ground or getting upon game not intended for the 

 day's chasse. 



The peasantry at the meet numbered in all not more than 

 twenty men ; but every one carried his long fowling-piece openly 

 and boldly on his shoulder, as if qualified by law to use it, and 

 dreading neither man nor beast with that weapon in his hands. 

 Their costume, too, was far more picturesque than that of the 

 Gourin or Carhaix peasants, who, as a rule, wear tight sackcloth 

 breeches, buttoning at the ankles, and a goat-skin jacket above 

 whereas many of these sported the spacious trunk-hose, as worn 

 by us in the sixteenth century, with claret-coloured cloth leggings 

 and jackets of the same hue and texture ; while their waists were 

 .girthed up with broad leathern belts and mighty buckles. Two 

 only were mounted on rough Brittany ponies, carrying saddles 

 very similar in shape to the pack-saddle used by our millers : 

 neither side of the saddle had stirrup-irons, but a single strap, 

 running fore and aft on the near side from the pommel to the 

 cantle, served the purpose efficiently, as the rider only required 

 support on one side, and rode just as a lady would in this country. 

 It is a strange contrariety, but, nevertheless, it is a fact that, in the 

 interior of Finisterre and Morbihan, the women ride astride, while 

 the men balance themselves on the saddle and carry both legs on 

 the same side. During the two seasons I was in this part of 

 Brittany I never saw more than one side-saddle ; nor, in the 



