"Three-fourths of the natives
of this part of the town are fishermen, and not less effectually
distinguished from the citizens of Dieppe by their name of Poltese,
taken from their place of residence, than by the difference in their
dress and language, the simplicity of their manners, and the narrow
extent of their acquirements. To the present hour they continue to
preserve the same costume as in the XVIth century; wearing trowsers
covered with wide short petticoats, which open in the middle to afford
room for the legs to move, and woollen waistcoats laced in the front
with ribands, and tucked below into the waistband of their trowsers.
Over these waistcoats is a close coat, without buttons or fastenings of
any kind, which falls so low as to hide their petticoats and extend a
foot or more beyond them. These articles of apparel are usually of cloth
or serge of a uniform color, and either red or blue; for they interdict
every other variation, except that all the seams of their dress are
faced with white silk galloon, full an inch in width.
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