ty symbolizes the
union of the clans in a common nationality. Thus, e.g. the tartan of the
clan McDonell is green with narrow checks of red, that of the clan
Gregarach red with narrow checks of black. The costume consists of a
short tunic, vest, a kilt--heavily pleated--fastened round the waist,
and reaching not quite to the knees (like a short petticoat), stockings
gartered below the bare knee, and shoes. In front of the person, hanging
from a belt round the waist, is the "sporran" or "spleuchan," a
pocket-purse covered with fur; and a large "plaid" or scarf, usually
wrapped round the body, the ends hanging down from a brooch fastened on
the left shoulder, but sometimes gathered up and hanging from the brooch
behind, completes the costume. The head-gear is a cloth cap or "bonnet,"
in which a sprig of heather is stuck, or an eagle's feather in the case
of chiefs. A dirk is worn thrust into the right stocking. Up to the end
of the 16th century the tunic and "philibeg" or kilt formed a single
garment; but otherwise the costume has come down the ages without
sensible modification. Kilt and plaid are of tartan; and sometimes
tartan "trews," i.e. trousers, are substituted for the former.

Among other national costumes still surviving in Europe may be mentioned
the Albanian-Greek dress (characterized by the spreading, pleated white
kilt, or _fustanella_), and the splendid full-dress of a Hungarian
gentleman, the prototype of the well-known hussar uniform; to which may
be added the Tirolese costume, which, so far as the men are concerned, is
characterized by short trousers, cut off above the knee, and a short
jacket, the colour varying in different districts. This latter trait
illustrates the fact that most of the still surviving "national" costumes
in Europe are in fact local and distinctive of class, though they conform
to a national type. These "folk-costumes" (_Volkstrachten_), as the
Germans call them, survive most strongly in the most conservative of all
classes, that of the peasants and naturally mainly in those districts
least accessible to modern "enterprise." These peasant costumes, often of
astonishing richness and beauty, vary more or less in every village, each
community having its own traditional type; and, since this type does not
vary, they can be handed down as valuable heirlooms from father to son
and from mother to daughter. But they are fast disappearing. In the
British islands, where there were no free peas