d Button--Hospitality--The _Cure's_
pig--His hard fate and reflections--The _Cure_ of the plain--His worth
and influence--The agent of the Government--Landed Proprietors--Their
influence--The Orator--Dialogue with a Peasant 207

CHAPTER XVII.

The wolf--His aspect and extreme ferocity--His cunning in hunting his
prey--His unsocial nature--Antiquity of the race--Where found, and their
varieties--Annihilated in England by the perseverance of the kings and
people--Decrees and rewards to encourage their destruction by
Athelstane, John, and Edward I.--Death of the last wolf in
England--Death of the last in Ireland 221

CHAPTER XVIII.

The _battues_ of May and December--The gathering of
sportsmen--Preparations in the forest--The _charivari_--The fatal
rush--Excitement of the moment--The volley--The day's triumph, and the
reward--The peasants returning--Hunting the wolf with
dogs--Cub-hunting--The drunken wolf 236

CHAPTER XIX.

Wolf-hunting, an expensive amusement--The _Traquenard_--Mode of setting
this trap--A night in the forest with Navarre--The young lover--Dreadful
accident that befell him--His courage and efforts to escape--The fatal
catastrophe--The poor mad mother 248

CHAPTER XX.

Shooting wolves in the summer--The most approved baits to attract
them--Fatal error--Hut-shooting--Silent joviality--The approach of the
wolves--The first volley--The retreat--The final slaughter--The
sportsman's reward--The farm-yard near St. Hibaut--The dead colt--The
onset--Scene in the morning--Horrible accident--The gallant
farmer--Death of the wolves, the dogs, and the peasant--The wolf-skin
drum--Anathema of the naturalists 261

CHAPTER XXI.

Fishing in Le Morvan--The naturalist--The _Gour_ of Akin--The English
lady--The mountain streams--Chateau de Chatelux--Sermiselle--New mode of
killing pike--Pierre Pertuis--The rocks and whirlpool there--The syrens
of the grotto--Chateau des Panolas--The Cousin--The ponds of Marot and
lakes of Lomervo--Mode of taking fish with live trimmers--The Scotch
farmer 280

CHAPTER XXII.

Village _fetes_--The first of May--The religious festivals--The _Fete
Dieu_--Appearance of the streets--The altars erected in them--Procession
from the church--Country fairs--The book-stalls at them--Pictures of the
Roman Catholic Church--Before the _Vendange_--Proprietor's hopes and
fears--Shooting in the vineyards--The first day of the
_Vendange_--Appearance o