DORA. "In the Baltic, north of the Gulf of Riga, lies the Isle of Dagen, belonging to Russia, and containing some fine estates of the Esthonian nobility. The dress of the female peasantry in this island is so remarkable that they deserve a passing notice. The head-dress is a circular plait of hair, braided with a red cloth roll, which fastens behind, and hangs down in long ends tipped with fringe. The dress is merely a linen shift, high to the throat, half-way down the leg, crimped from top to bottom, the linen being soaked in water with as much strong starch as it can hold, crimped with long laths of wood, and then put into the oven to dry, whence it issues stiff and hard as a board. The belt is the chief curiosity, being made of broad black leather, studded with massive brass heads, with a fringe of brass chains. High-heeled shoes and red stockings complete the attire, and altogether make a fanciful picture of a pretty maiden bandit." EMMA. "But such garments must surely be very cold?" DORA. "The dress I have described is worn in the summer, for they have a warm season for a short period during the year; of course, when the cold sets in, they hide their faces and figures in furs, in the same fashion as their neighbors." GEORGE. "How very uncomfortable to be dressed so stiffly in warm weather; and then they can surely never sit in such garments, for to rumple them would spoil them, I suppose?" MRS. WILTON. "It is _the fashion_ in Dagen, my dear; and there, as elsewhere, many inconveniences are submitted to, from an anxiety to vie with other folks in the style of dress, and from a fear of being considered _old-fashioned_. I am sure _we_ English must not find fault with the dress of other countries, for some of _our_ fashions are truly ridiculous." "Yes, mamma," said Emma; "but they do not strike us as being ridiculous, because we are accustomed to them; and this must be the case with other nations: they are used to their peculiar dresses, and have no idea of the astonishment of strangers when viewing the novel attire, which to the wearers possesses nothing remarkable to astonish or attract."