Postman on stilts in France. 19th-century artwork of a postman delivering a letter on stilts to a shepherd. Stilt-walking as a way of life was practised by the shepherds of the Landes region in Gascony, south-western France. The stilts enabled them to move rapidly over the often boggy and marshy grounds where they tended their flocks. The staff held by both postman and shepherd would be used to rest on as a seat. This engraving dates from circa 1888.