From this it happened that, in bodies, the van of which were admirably
well armed in their own fashion, the rear resembled actual banditti. Here
was a pole-axe, there a sword without a scabbard; here a gun without a
lock, there a scythe set straight upon a pole; and some had only their
dirks, and bludgeons or stakes pulled out of hedges. The grim, uncombed,
and wild appearance of these men, most of whom gazed with all the
admiration of ignorance upon the most ordinary productions of domestic
art, created surprise in the Lowlands, but it also created terror. So
little was the condition of the Highlands known at that late period that
the character and appearance of their population, while thus sallying
forth as military adventurers, conveyed to the South-Country Lowlanders
as much surprise as if an invasion of African Negroes or Esquimaux
Indians had issued forth from the northern mountains of their own native
country. It cannot therefore be wondered if Waverley, who had hitherto
judged of the Highlanders generally from the samples which the policy of
Fergus had from time to time exhibited, should have felt damped and
astonished at the daring attempt of a body not then exceeding four
thousand men, and of whom not above half the number, at the utmost, were
armed, to change the fate and alter the dynasty of the British kingdoms.
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