68 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



assure the sportsman that it is a country 

 which affords incalculable advantages to 

 all knights of the trigger. A sine qua non 

 with me is economy, and I know not any 

 spot in the habitable globe (and I have 

 visited every quarter of it) that can com- 

 pare with it. The pay sans are unquestion- 

 ably uncouth boors, but so are the lower 

 orders of Welsh. The inhabitants of both 

 countries resemble each other to a shade, 

 for both are obstinate as mules, and 

 stupid as owls. 



1 would not recommend any of my 

 fellow-countrymen to pull a trigger on 

 Gallic ground without a porte d'armes, the 

 price of which is trifling — fifteen francs ; 

 and this sum will secure the shooter from 

 the risk of losing his gun, which is in- 

 variably confiscated when the offender is 

 discovered ; and if the unlucky wight be 

 not armed with the talismanic paper, he 

 stands a chance of being rather roughly 



