When much distressed for food, the wolves will sometimes attack the cottages of the peasants. An instance of this kind is related by Dr. Bright to have occurred not long before his visit at Leutschau. A woman who had two children, the one about twenty years of age, the other much younger, had just quitted her cottage in the morning, when a wolf rushed upon her and tore her face dreadfully: then leaving the first object of its rage, the animal fixed upon the child, and in an instant lacerated its head and deprived it of both eyes. The elder son alarmed, flew to the spot, and seizing the wolf by the throat, held it at bay for some moments; but being unable to maintain the unequal conflict, became himself the object of attack: the hungry beast fixed his fangs deep in his neck. The cries of the unhappy victims brought some assistance to the spot, and the wolf made his escape. As soon, however, as the necessary aid had been afforded to the sufferers, an active pursuit was instituted and the animal was discovered in a thicket. A young man levelled his piece: it missed fire, and the wolf was in the very act of springing on its pursuer, when it was brought to the ground by a well aimed blow of a cudgel.
The mode of storing wheat generally adopted in this country is very objectionable. After being beaten out, often by the feet of horses and oxen, it is deposited in holes in the ground, where it is kept during the winter. There it acquires a strong mouldy smell, which, indeed, goes off in some degree by exposure to the air. These holes are dug of a circular form and about three feet deep; and an excavation is made of such dimensions that a man can sit in it to stow away the grain and assist in bringing it to the surface when required. This done, a fire is kindled in it to harden the sides, which are afterwards lined with straw. When the grain is thus stowed, straw is placed upon the top, and earth thrown in to fill up the entrance hole, which forms the neck, as it were, of the cave, and a little heap of earth remains pointing out the spot; or a piece of wood is stuck in it as a mark. There is scarcely a village near which a number of such hillocks are not to be seen.
We shall now present the reader with an account of the costumes prevailing in different parts of the country.