Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-10-31
WALKING ON STILTSl
A DISTRICT IN WHICH THIS is DONE
FOR SUBSTANTIAL REASONS.

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FOR SUBSTANTIAL REASONS.
The Eerders and Peasants OF Landes Use
Stills In Their Avoeatiors-In Belgium
They Had :. Festival Which Bore Some
Resemblance to Our Football Game.
The curious district of the Landes be-
tween Bordeaux and Bayonne mainly
consists of heaths and pine woods, in
terspersed with few patches, growing
barley and little maize.
The surface of the ground is dull
gray or ash colored sand, and over this
unpromising pasture wander scattered
: flocks of lanky, coarse wooled, ill con-
ditioned sheep, tended by shepherds,
who from time immemorial have been
noted for walking on stills. by the as
sistance of which they are not only able
to stalk over the prickly bushes and
avoid the disagreeable contingency of
filling their shoes with sand, but they
attain an elevation not afforded by the
level surface of the ground, and from
their artificial altitude can overlook
their focks and prevent their sheep
from straying. They also carry long
pole that, when stuck into the earth,
forms a support against which the shep-
herds can rest and knitN ockings all
day long. Altogether the appearance of
this extraordinary tripod, Of which the
apex is human something in sheep
skin, is weird, not to say alarming.
By the aid Of their wooden legs the
peasants of the Landes, with very slight
exertion and without an exceptionally
rapid movement, will go over the
ground at pace which would keep a
horse at hard trot. Nature, however,
is power not to be trified with and
which sooner or later visits with visi-
BILE censure the violation of biological
rules. Consequently the artifcially long
shanked inhabitants of the Landes are
somewhat diminutiye in stature and
are said to be not very long lived race:
These poor people have to endure Sc
we're privations, among which chronic
want of water is the cruelest, but Of
late years steps have been taken to rem
edy the evil arising from the circum-
stance that all the streams in the
Grandes Landes are brackish.
The railway through this desolate re-
gion was built by English engineers,
who imported contingent of English
navvies to assist in the most laborious
part of the work. Obviously a NAVY on
stills would be a grotesque anomaly.
The English workmen, therefore, wore
French wooden shoes, or sabots, which
they carefully stuffed with wool or
straw to keep out the sand, but the con-
tractors took care that their employees,
when they had finished their toll,
should not be constrained to walk long
distances through the sandy wilderness,
and the men were lodged in kind Of
travelling village placed ON trucks and
pushed on the rails day by day as fast
as the line advanced, food and fresh
water being sent to them from a dis
tance sometimes of 40 or so miles. 1t
must not, however, be supposed that
walking on stills is q custom indigo
nous to the French Landes. In the mid
die ages laborers from Flanders were
imported to the Garonno for the purpose
of draining the marshes, and their pres
ence III this part of France is oommem-
grated III place still known us Bruet
or Bruges. These Flemings probably
brought with them their stills, the an
cient Flemish name of which was
"schaetse, which would i'll process of
time be naturalized as the French
"echasses.
There was formerly an annual festi-
val held at Namur, in Belgium, called
the battle of the stills, and which, to
all seeming, was unique in Europe. The
youth of the town were divided into two
amicably hostile camps under the re-
spective names of ''Melans'' and sd Au-
resses," said to represent two very an
,cient families of Namur, the relation
between whom in bygone times was Of
the nature of that which existed be-
tween the Capulets and Montagues of
Verona On each side there were from
500 to 900 combatants, all mounted on
stills. Each army had its commandant
and its regimental officers, together
with its distinctive cockade and flags,
which last during the action fioated
from the windows of the hotel de vile.
At the signal for the battle to begin
the combatants advanced to the sound
of trumpets from two opposite extremi-
ties Of the Grand place, and the engage
ment began in right earnest, the object
of the wooden legged warriors being to
knock each other over, in which lauda-
BILE endeavor they were cheered by the
smiles and waited kisses of the prettiest
maidens Of Namur. They were only to
use their stills and their elbows to trip
their opponents up, and at given
time the "Hola" or "Cease kicking!"
was sounded, and the army which had
knocked over the largest number of legs
was declared the victor.
This fantastic exhibition was wit
messed in the course of generations by
the Emperor Charles V, by Peter the
Great of Russia and Napoleon I, but
the magistrates of Namur toward the
close of the eighteenth century sup
pressed the battle of stills as yearly
function because it frequently led to a
slightly undesirable occurrence Of crack
ed skulls and fractured arms and legs.
France and Flanders cannot, however,
lay claim to monopoly of silt walk
ing. 1t is indeed very ancient man.
ner of locomotion, but in countries not
abounding in marshes or in extensive
sandy wastes stills have not been turn
ed to any practical use and have usu-
ally only formed part of the stock in
trade of showmen and mountebanks for
the amusement of the frequenters of
fairs and village festivals.
Boys at all times have been accus-
toned to improvise stills by means of
couple of poles, with thong of leather
or cord, through which the feet could
be passed, and their prowess on these
artificial supports has led to their being
rewarded by the enthusiastic adm1ra-
tion of the small girls of the village and
to their getting from time to time
some ugly tumbles. London Standard
TO Extract Essence FsosY. 7rto,scrs
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Sprinkle a small quantity Of fine salt o.
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