386 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



been 1 — Lord I if he was but two years old ! the Devil 

 himself would not catch him'' 



Now, the most curious part of this story is, that 

 although a standing joke upon Achil simplicity for a 

 century, it is to be found verbatim in a German jest- 

 book, with this only difference, that a gourd is there 

 substituted for a jar. 



In alluding to the strange employments of the female 

 peasantry, I noticed those coarse and laborious exercises 

 which elsewhere are confined to the lords of the creation. 

 That the appearance of the fair inhabitants of the western 

 highlands should harmonize with their rude avocations 

 might be expected ; and hence the female peasantry, 

 in personal advantages, are very inferior indeed to those 

 of the interior. The constant exposure to sun and 

 storm injures the complexion, and gives them an old 

 and faded look ; and the habit of dispensing with shoes 

 renders the feet large and misshapen. Among the 

 Coryphees who frequented our mountain balls, there 

 was but one girl who might be termed decidedly hand- 

 some. Her face was uncommonly intelligent — I never 

 saw so dark an eye, and her teeth were white as ivory. 

 But there was a natural ease in all she did — whether she 

 brought a pitcher from the spring, or danced a merry 

 strathspey, every movement was graceful. Even her 

 simple toilet evinced instinctive taste, though no corset 

 was required to regulate a form moulded by the hand 

 of Nature, and her magnificent hair boasted no arrange- 

 ment beyond the simple cincture of a ribbon — 



But seldom was a snood amid 

 Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid, 

 Whose glossy black to shame might bring 

 The plumage of a raven's wing. 



