ſide their Horſes full of Fowls, Butter, Eggs, or whatever they bring thither to diſpoſe of, and the Women following them on Foot over Rocks, Mountains, Bogs, Sloughs, and thro' very deep Rivers, and all this without either Shoes or Stockings, carrying theſe ſuperfluous Coverings, as they term them, under their Arms, till they come near the Market-town; then they ſit down all together on the ſide of a Hill, and put them on for Faſhion ſake, and let down their Petticoats alſo, which before were tucked up higher than their Knees, for the Convenience of wading thro' the Rivers, and to preſerve them from the Mire of the Bogs. and Sloughs.
But the reaſon for obliging the Females to this Hardſhip, is a very whimſical one, and ſuch a one, as I believe, cannot but afford ſome Diverſion to my curious Reader; I ſhall, therefore, inſert it in the manner it was told me by an old Native to whom it had been handed down from many Generations as an undoubted Verity.
He
