OUR SOUTHERN    HIGHLANDERS              CHAPTER I  "SOMETHING HIDDEN; GO AND FIND IT"I N one of Poe's minor tales, written in 1845,    there is a vague allusion to wild mountains    in western Virginia " tenanted by fierce anduncouth races of men." This, so far as I know,was the first reference in literature to our South-ern mountaineers, and it stood as their onlycharacterization until Miss Murfree (" CharlesEgbert Craddock") began her stories of theCumberland hills.  Time and retouching have done little to softenour Highlander's portrait. Among reading peo-ple generally, South as well as North, to namehim is to conjure up a tall, slouching figure inhomespun, who carries a rifle as habitually ashe does his hat, and who may tilt its muzzletoward a stranger before addressing him, theform of salutation being:                   II