THEIR ROUND OF LIFE AND LABOUR. 61 
know, has borne important testimony to the good behaviour 
of the Irish fisher folk ; being asked if he had ever known 
any cases of Irish fishermen being implicated in Agrarian 
outrages, his answer was to the effect that during a period 
of fifty years he had not known a solitary case of an Irish 
fisherman being charged as an accomplice in any of these 
crimes. 
At the Claddagh—in a portion of Galway situated on 
the right of the harbour, we find all that pertains to the 
social habits of the Irish fisher folk brought to a focus; the 
colony of fishermen which is there established still retain 
among them the customs of their remote ancestors. The 
town is a peculiar looking place, an extraordinary collection 
of cottages thatched with straw, and the people who inhabit 
these abodes are totally distinct in dress, habits, and 
customs, from those of the town (Galway). The peculiar 
dress of the women imparts a singularly foreign aspect to 
the streets and quays, and the person elected by the fisher 
people as their Mayor, is implicitly obeyed, he is of course 
one of themselves, and is able to regulate the community, 
and settle disputes according to their own peculiar laws 
and customs. On occasions of difference, his decision is so 
much valued, that law is seldom resorted to. Like the 
fisher folk of the Scottish and Northumbrian coasts, the 
people of Claddagh are great believers in luck, and in 
signs and omens, and in all matters of dispute, they stand 
firmly by each other, even when one of them is wrong. 
Strangers are not made welcome as residents in the fisher 
quarter of Galway, in fact, they are not allowed to reside 
within the bounds of the Claddagh. The people inter- 
marry, and no marriage, we believe, is considered to be 
properly brought about unless preceded by an elopement ; 
the bride is presented by way of dowry, with a boat or share 
