UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 57 



As we walked along one of these, we were sur- 

 prised by the appearance of smoke curling 

 through the trees ; and we soon after came to a 

 little cottage, in a very solitary part of the forest. 

 Frederick ran on, " to discover," he said, 

 " whether it contained a giant, ready to devour 

 us with fee, fan, fum, or some hermit who had 

 retired to this sequestered spot, to expiate his 

 crimes in solitude and silence." 



We soon followed, and instead of either giant 

 or hermit, there was a poor man almost 

 blind, employed in making a basket, while his 

 daughter, a pretty looking young woman about 

 twenty, sat within, engaged in needlework ; and 

 the house, though one of the poorest that I have 

 seen, looked clean and airy. But as it is built 

 against a sloping bank, it must be damp, I think 

 and his daughter has rather a delicate appear- 

 ance, and looks pensive, as if she was not in 

 good health. 



I was very much interested in observing the 

 method by which he made his basket. It was 

 not made of willow, which I thought was always 

 used ; so we inquired what the material was, 

 and I was surprised to find that it was oak. He 

 splits the wood into long strips when it is quite 

 fresh, or after it has been soaking in water for 

 some time ; these strips are about an inch broad, 

 and being only a tenth of an inch thick, they 

 are so pliable, that he weaves them without dif- 



