the maxim, that _la
propriete c'est la vol_. Where these people come from is a puzzle.
There will be vagrants and strollers among them from all parts of
France--from the Pyrenees and the Alps--from the pine-woods of the
Landes and the moors of Brittany. They unite in bands of a dozen or a
score men and women, appointing a chief, who bargains with the
vine-proprietor for the services of the company, and keeps up some
degree of order and subordination, principally by means of the
unconstitutional application of a good thick stick. I frequently
encountered these bands, making their way from one district to
another; and better samples of 'the dangerous classes' were never
collected. They looked vicious and abandoned, as well as miserably
poor. The women, in particular, were as brazen-faced a set of
slatterns as could be conceived; and the majority of the
men--tattered, strapping-looking fellows, with torn slouched hats and
tremendous cudgels--were exactly the sort of persons a nervous
gentleman would have scruples about meeting at dusk in a long lane. It
is when thus on the tramp that the petty pilfering, and picking and
stealing, to which I have alluded to, goes on. When actually at work,
they have no time for picking up unconsidered trifles. Sometimes these
people pass the night--all together, of course--in outhouses or barns,
when the _chef_ can strike a good bargain; at other times, they
bivouac on the lee-side of a wood or wall, in genuine gipsy fashion.
You may often see their watchfires glimmering in the night; and be
sure that where you do, there are twisted necks and vacant nests in
many a neighbouring henroost.' Mr Reach witnessed an altercation,
respecting passage-money, between a party of these wanderers and a
ferryman of the Garonne; and it ended in the vintagers refusing to
cross the river, rather than submit to the overcharge, as they
contended it was, of a sou. 'A bivouac was soon formed. Creeping under
the lee of a row of casks, on the shingle of the bare beach, the women
were placed leaning against the somewhat hard and large pillows in
question; the children were nestled at their feet and in their laps;
and the men formed the outermost ranks. A supply of loaves was sent
for and obtained. The chief tore the bread up into huge hunks, which
he distributed to his dependents; and upon this supper the whole party
went coolly to sleep--more coolly, indeed, than agreeably--for a keen
north wind was whistling alon