Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/487

Rh place in the villages of Gascony without stilt-races. The prizes usually consisted of a gun, a sheep, a rooster, or something of the kind; and young women sometimes took part in the exercises. Some of the municipalities near Bayonne and Biarritz still organize



stilt-races, at the seasons when travel to them is greatest; but it is said that the stiltsmen who perform at such times are not real Landais shepherds, but are casuals picked up as they may be found, most frequently from among professional acrobats.

Besides attaining considerable speed, the Landais stiltsmen are