CLANS. 
533 
tented with the few things which nature requires ; to act and to sutTer 
without complaining; to be as much ashamed of doing any thing 
insolent or injurious to others, as of bearing it when done to them- 
selves ; and to die with pleasure, to revenge the affronts offered to 
their clan or their country : these they considered their highest 
accomplishments. In religion, every man followed, with indifference of 
sentiment, the mode which his chieftain had assumed. Their dress, 
which was the last remains of the Roman habit in Europe, was well 
suited to the nature of their country, and still better to the necessi- 
ties of war. It consisted of a roll of light woollen called a plaid, six 
yards in length and two in breadth, wrapped loosely round the body, 
the upper lappet of which rested on the left shoulder, leaving the right 
arm at full liberty ; a jacket of thick cloth fitted tightly to the body ; 
and a loose short garment of light woollen, which went round the 
waist and covered the thigh. In rain they formed the plaid into folds, 
and, laying it on their shoulders, were covered as with a roof. When 
they were obliged to lie abroad on the hills, in their hunting parties, 
or tending their cattle, or in war, the plaid served them both for bed 
and for covering, for, when three men slept together, they could 
spread three folds of cloth below^ and six above them. The garters 
of their stockings were tied under their knee, with a view to give 
more freedom to the limb ; and they wore no breeches, that they 
might climb mountains with the greater ease. The lightness and 
looseness of their dress, the custom they had of always going on foot, 
never on horseback, their love of long journeys, but, above all, that 
patience of hunger and hardships, which carried their bodies forward 
even after their spirits were exhausted, made them exceed all other 
European nations in speed and perseverance of march. In encamp- 
ments, they were expert at forming beds in a moment by tying toge- 
ther bunches of heath, and fixing them upright in the ground ; an art 
which, as the beds were both soft and dry, preserved their health in 
the field when other soldiers lost theirs. Their arms were a broad- 
sword, a dagger called a dirk, a target, a musket, and two pistols; 
so that they carried the long sword of the Celtes, the piigio of the 
Romans, the shields of the ancients, and both kinds of modern fire- 
arms, all together. In battle they threw away the plaid and under 
garment, and fought in their jackets, thus making their movements 
quicker and their strokes more forcible. The advance to battle 
was rapid, like the charge of dragoons ; when near the enemy, they 
stopped a little to draw breath, and discharged the musket, which they 
then dropped on the ground ; advancing, they fired their pistols, 
which they threw almost at the same instant against the heads of their 
opponents, and then rushed into their ranks with the broadsword, 
threatening and shaking their sword as they ran on, so as to conquer 
the enemy’s eye while his body was yet unhurt. They fought, not 
in long and regular lines, but in separate bands, like wedges, con- 
densed and firm ; the army being raised according to the clans which 
composed it, and each according to its families, so that there arose a 
competition in valour, of clan with clan, of family with family, of 
brother with brother. To make an opening in regular troops, and to 
conquer, they reckoned the same ting, because, inclose engagements. 
