214 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



present, either a pound of sugar, quarter pound of tea, or a shilling or 

 more in money, as they think best. This is expected to be returned 

 when the givers are in a similar situation. 



The " bidding," which is a somewhat similar custom at a marriage, is 

 not quite so general, though it is still much used in Carmarthenshire. 

 When a young couple are married they send notice to all their friends, 

 that " on a day named they intend to have a ' bidding,' at which they 

 request their company, with any donation they may think proper, which 

 will be punctually returned when they are called upon on a similar occa- 

 sion." At such biddings £20 or £;^o are frequently collected, and some- 

 times much more, and as from various causes they are not called upon 

 to return more than one-half, they get half the sum clear, and a loan 

 without interest of the other half to commence Hfe with. 



The national dress or costume of the men (if ever they had any) is 

 not now in use ; that of the women, however, is still very peculiar. Both 

 use principally home-made articles, spinning their own wool and sending 

 it to the factory to be made into flannel or cloth. They also dye the 

 wool black themselves, using in the operation the contents of certain 

 well-known domestic utensils, which is kept stewing over the fire some 

 days, emitting a most unsavoury odour, which, however, they assert to be 

 very wholesome. The men generally wear a square-cut coat of home- 

 made pepper-and-salt coloured cloth, waistcoat and breeches or trousers 

 of the same, and a round low crowned hat ; or occasionally fustian trousers 

 and gay flannel waistcoat with bright metal buttons, coloured necker- 

 chief, home-knit^stockings of black sheep's wool, and lace-up boots. Shirts 

 of checked coarse flannel — cotton shirts and sheets being considered 

 equally luxurious. One of the most striking parts of the women's dress 

 is the black beaver hat, which is almost universally worn and is both 

 picturesque and becoming. It is made with a very high crown, narrow- 

 ing towards the top, and a broad, perfectly flat brim, thus differing 

 entirely from any man's hat. They frequently give thirty shillings for 

 one of these hats, and make them last the greater part of their lives. The 

 body dress consists of what they call a bedgown, or betcown^ as it is 

 pronounced, which is a dress made quite plain, entirely open in front (like 

 a gentleman's dressing gown), with sleeves a little short of the elbow. A 

 necessary accompaniment to this is an apron, which ties it up round the 

 waist. The bedgown is invariably formed of what they call flannel, 

 which is a stuff formed by a mixture of wool, cotton, and sometimes a 

 little silk. It is often striped black or dark blue, or brown and white, with 

 alternate broad and narrow stripes, or red and black, but more frequently 

 a plaid of several colours, the red and black being wool, the white or blue 

 cotton, and often a narrow yellow stripe of silk, made in plaid patterns of 

 every variety of size and colour. The apron is almost always black-and- 

 white plaid, the only variety being in the form and size of the pattern, 

 and has a pretty effect by relieving the gay colours of the other part of 

 the dress. They in general wear no stays, and this,! with the constant 

 habit of carrying burdens on the head, produces almost invariably an 



