358 A Winter in Cornwall. [Sess. 
with the single exception of fish, which are abnormally dear. 
Potatoes are sold in the shops by the gallon, which, as a school- 
boy can tell us, is a measure of capacity as well as a liquid 
measure. It sounds a little strange to Scottish ears to pur- 
chase potatoes by the gallon, but such being the fact, it is 
almost permissible to expect that whisky could be bought 
by the peck! 
The Cornish are decidedly musical, and during the winter 
months concerts are got up in the various towns for all sorts of 
charitable purposes, as well as for the benefit of athletic clubs 
and other objects, and it is surprising how excellent is the talent 
displayed by the amateur performers. Cornwall has also not 
been behind-hand in producing professional talent. Mention 
need only be made of Madame Fanny Moody as one instance 
of this. 
Two virtues appertaining to Cornish folks, that cannot fail 
to strike a stranger, are their honesty and temperance,—not 
that these attributes are by any means confined to that remote 
part of England, but except in places where the tourist element 
has spoiled a certain section of the people, the trading class are 
found to be fair and just in their dealings, and excess in liquor 
among the native population is a very rare occurrence. Most 
of the farmers are of the working class, there not being many 
of what are known as gentlemen farmers with capital, and the 
holdings are generally small. The word “croft” occurs, and 
is somewhat similar in meaning to that in vogue in our High- 
lands. A peculiarly shaped spade is used, and is, I believe, 
confined to Devon and Cornwall. This is a broad heart-shaped 
looking article, coming to a sharp point, and lying almost flat, 
not upright like the ordinary implement. The shaft is from 
five to six feet long, and bent like a low arch, the idea evidently 
being to reduce the back-bending of the user to a minimum, 
It seemed to work well among soft ground, but did not appear 
to be of much utility in turning over hard soil. 
We now come to the third division of our remarks on 
Cornwall—viz., its 
INDUSTRIES. 
As far back as its history goes, Cornwall’s greatest industry 
has been mining—-viz., tin, copper, and iron, besides other less 
