130 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



base with large flags placed on edge (fig. 85), behind 

 and above which a coved wall is built ; that outside 

 is backed with clay, the structure having the 

 appearance of a hill or mound of earth. The Ligai- 

 treabh, or pillar dwellings, are several times 

 mentioned in the Annals, and seem to have been 

 structures somewhat like the fosleacs of the Burren, 

 except that the cover-stone was supported on two 

 cr more pillars, while the spaces between were built 

 up by small stones. Such a structure, if the small 

 stones were removed, would look very like a crom- 

 leac, and might be mistaken for one ; in some parts 

 of Ireland they are called Labba Darmaid and 

 Crauia, or Dermot and Grania beds, they being 

 supposed to have been resting-places for these 

 mythical personages during their wanderings. 



Eosleacs are of different types. First, simple, 

 like those in Burren, and figured in Chapter V. ; 

 second, compound, when they are long narrow 

 buildings with flags, walls, and roofs, as shown in 

 the accompanying cuts (figs. 85 and 86), taken from 

 sketches by my old friend the late G. V. Da Noyer, 

 M.R.I.A., of a fosleac called Calliagh Dirra's House, 

 in the parish of Monastenboise, co. Louth ; and 

 third, chambered, the latter being very similar to 

 the second, except that the structure is divided by 

 transverse flag partitions into two or more com- 

 partments. 



The Ointighs, or stone huts that have not'arched 

 or beehive- shaped roofs, seem to be much more 

 modern than any other of the habitations mentioned, 

 and must be post-Christian. They, however, are 

 mentioned, as here they occur in connection with 

 the others, they seem to be the passage between the 

 rectangular cloghauns and the present cabin. 



In Ballynasean there are cahers, chambered, round, 

 and rectangular cnocans, rectangular cloghauns, 

 one ligaitreabh, two fosleacs, and a few ointighs, 

 all more or less destroyed ; while in Cragbally wee 

 there is only the one cloghaun at all perfect (figs. 

 78 and 79), but the site of several cloghauns and 

 cnocans can be traced out. 



THE HISTORY OF CULTIVATED 

 i VEGETABLES. 



No. X-Tiie Pea {Pimm). 



rpHE Pea, like the Bean, has been used for food 

 -*- for an unknown period, and it is an interesting 

 fact that the bean and a small kind of pea, allied to 

 the present variety, have been found in the lake 

 habitations of Switzerland, which existed in the 

 Stone and Bronze ages. We have no account that 

 the Greeks and Romans numbered green peas 

 among their numerous dishes, although we are 

 told that in their mature state the common people 

 ade the grey pea their principal food. According 



to Martial, they were sold at the theatres and 

 circus at a low price to the spectators, who regaled 

 and even gorged themselves with fried peas ; and it, 

 is related by some Roman writers that those who 

 were candidates for any public employment used 

 to distribute grey peas gratuitously to the people, 

 in order to obtain their suffrages. From which it 

 appears that votes were to be had at a much 

 cheaper rate than in the present day. 



Pliny informs us that the Greeks sowed their 

 peas in November, but the Romans did not plant 

 theirs until the spring, and then only in warm 

 places lying well in the sun ; for of all things, says 

 this author, the pea cannot endure cold. 



Historical evidence would make it appear that 

 both the pea and the bean must not only have been 

 introduced, but extensively cultivated in some parts 

 of Scotland, as well as in England, at a very early 

 period. It is on record that when the English 

 forces were besieging a castle in Lothian, in the 

 year 1299, their supply of provisions was exhausted, 

 and their only resource was in the peas and beans 

 of the surrounding fields. It was not until after 

 the Norman Conquest and the establishment of 

 monastic communities that we read of green peas 

 being used. In Fosbrooke's "Brit. Monasticon " 

 it is stated that at Barking Nunnery the annual 

 store of provision consisted, inter alia, of green peas 

 for Lent ; green peas against Midsummer ; and in 

 " Archajologia," vol. xiii., in Order and Government 

 of a Nobleman's House, it is there mentioned: "If any 

 one will have peas soon in the year following, such 

 peas are to be sown in the waine of the moon at St. 

 Andro's tide, before Christmas." It appears from a 

 song called "London Lychpeny," written in the 

 reign of Henry VI., that peas cods or pods were 

 sold in the streets of London at that period :— 



" Then into London I dyde me hye 

 Of all land it bearyeth the pryse ; 

 Gode pescode one began to cry." 



At i Windsor there is a street called Peacod, 

 mentioned by that name in old documents. Perhaps 

 a more delicate variety was introduced about the 

 reign of Henry VIII., for in the privy purse 

 expenses of that king is the following entry: "Paid 

 to a man in reward for bringing pescodds to the 

 King's grace, iiijs. vmd." Yet garden peas appear 

 to bare been rare in the early part of Elizabeth's 

 reign ; as Fuller observes they were seldom seen, 

 except those which were brought from Holland, 

 and " these," says he, " were dainties for ladies, 

 they came so far and cost so dear"; but in the 

 latter part of her reign gardening had made con- 

 siderable progress ; and, taking into consideration 

 how little it had been previously studied, her days 

 produced the most Complete Herbalist, who studied 

 and wrote upon all plants known at that period. 

 Gerard's work is as excellent as it is voluminous, 

 being free from those astrological absurdities that 



