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STILTS

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 923 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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STILTS , poles provided at a certain distance above the ground with steps or stirrups for the feet, for the purpose of walking on them. As a means of amusement stilts have been used by all peoples in all ages, as well as by the inhabitants of marshy or flooded districts. The See also:

city of See also:Namur in See also:Belgium, which formerly suffered from the overflowing of the See also:rivers Sambre and See also:Meuse, has been celebrated for its See also:stilt-walkers for many centuries. Not only the towns-See also:people but also the soldiers used stilts, and stilt-fights were indulged in, in which parties of a See also:hundred or more attacked each other, the See also:object being to overset as many of the enemy as possible. The See also:governor of Namur having promised the See also:archduke See also:Albert (about 1600) a See also:company of soldiers that should neither ride nor walk, sent a detachment on stilts, which so pleased the archduke that he conferred upon the city perpetual exemption from the See also:beer-tax, no small See also:privilege at that See also:time. The See also:home of stilt-walking at the See also:present See also:day is the See also:department of See also:Landes in See also:Gascony, where, owing to the impermeability of the subsoil, all See also:low-lying districts are converted into marshes, compelling the shepherds, farmers and marketmen to spend the greater See also:part of their lives on stilts. These are strapped to the See also:leg below the See also:knee, the See also:foot resting in a See also:stirrup about five feet from the ground. Their wearers, who are called - tchangues (See also:long-legs) in the Gascon See also:dialect, also carry long staves, which are often provided with a narrow piece of See also:board, used as a seat in See also:case of fatigue. In the last See also:quarter of the 19th See also:century stilt-races, for See also:women as well as men, became very popular in. the Landes See also:district, and still See also:form an important feature of every provincial festivity. One winner of the See also:annual championship races accomplished 490 kilometres (more than 304 m.) in 103 See also:hours, 36 minutes. Silvain Dornon, a See also:baker of the Landes, walked on stilts from See also:Paris to See also:Moscow in 58 days in the See also:spring of 1891. The rapids of the See also:Niagara have been waded on stilts.

In many of the Pacific islands, particularly the See also:

Marquesas, stilts are used during the See also:rainy See also:season. Stilts used by See also:children are very long, the upper See also:half being held under the arms; they are not strapped to the leg. Stilts See also:play an important part in the See also:Italian masquerades, and are used for mounting the gigantic figures in the See also:grotesque processions of See also:Lisle, See also:Dunkirk; See also:Louvain and other cities.

End of Article: STILTS

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STINDE, JULIUS (1841-1905)

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