3o6 The hish Naturalist. 



simple and innocent, but also thoughtful and intelligent, 

 credulous, temperate, with a high sense of decency and 

 propriety, honour and justice, communicative but not too 

 loquacious, hospitable and honest." According to these 

 authors there is scarcely a virtue which is lacking to the 

 people ; but one writer adds : "I am afraid things are very 

 much changed since those days." 



All the men are land-owners to a greater or less extent ; the 

 holdings, or cannogarras, as they are termed, vary from about 

 1 1 to 14 acres, the supposition being that each cannogarra can 

 feed a cow with her calf, a horse and her foal, some sheep for 

 their wool, and give sufficient potatoes to support one family. 

 Most of the fields are very small in size, and are surrounded 

 by walls composed of stones piled loosely on one another ; 

 there are no gates or permanent gaps in the walls. A man 

 usually owns a number of isolated fields scattered all over the 

 island. 



Only a fraction of the land is naturally fit for anything, and 

 probably a considerable portion of the existing soil has been 

 made b}^ the natives bringing up sea-sand and sea-weed in 

 baskets, on their own or on donkeys' backs, and strewing them 

 on the naked rock after they have removed the loose stones. 

 Clay scooped from the interstices of the rock may also be 

 added. Farmyard manure is little used in the fields. Only 

 spade labour is employed in the fields. Potatoes are grown 

 in this artificial soil ; after a few crops of these grass is sown, 

 and later r3^e. The latter is cultivated for the straw, which is 

 used for thatching ; the rye- corn is not now employed for 

 eating purposes. Sweet grass grows in the crevices of the 

 rocks, and this forms, in addition to the meadows, the usual 

 pasturage for the sheep. 



The farm will usually keep a family in potatoes, milk, and 

 wool. Flour and meal are imported from Galway along with 

 tea and other foreign produce. For fuel the Aranites employ 

 peat and cow-dung ; all the former is imported from Conne- 

 mara. Kelp is made in considerable quantities. 



The bulk of the men on the north island may be described 

 as small farmers who do a little fishing. There are, besides, 

 two or three weavers, tailors, and curragh builders. The 

 butcher, baker, and other allied tradesmen are mainl}^ related 

 to the small population, which ma}^ fairly be termed foreign, 



