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THE IRISH ARAN, 47 
the fields. The monuments are all constructed on the type of the 
Fitzpatrick memorials (Plate VII., fig. 13), which are the earliest 
specimens I could find, and which date from 1709. On one of 
these memorials I saw recorded the patriarchal age of 104 years. 
I found one curious instance in which an inscription had been cut 
in astone lying in the middle of a large field, and there left zz s¢¢u. 
In several places on the island, fields on the roadside have been 
selected for monuments of a less pretentious character, the 
humblest consisting merely of small cairns of stones (Plate VII., 
fig. 14). Ihave no doubt that these fields were originally selected 
from some religious association, but of what nature I am ignorant. 
The result of the various immigrations has been the production 
of a race of people of medium height, but well built and apparently 
healthy. The men support themselves partly by cultivating the 
scanty patches where this is possible, and there grow excellent 
potatoes, by feeding a few animals on the herbage growing 
naturally in the fissures and elsewhere, and partly by fishing. Coarse 
fish is very abundant off the shore, and can readily be caught 
from the rocks, and fish of a better character swarm in the deeper 
water. ‘These resources are eked out by the manufacture of kelp 
from the seaweed ; this is collected into heaps, left to dry, and then 
burnt. Itis a picturesque sight on a dark night to watch the figures 
of men feeding the fires as the kelp is burnt on the shore, as it is 
necessary to give it constant attention until the mass is completely 
calcined. The kelp is a source of iodine, but the price realised 
now is much less than it was formerly. 
The islands are badly off in one respect, that is, the total absence 
of bog. The whole of the fuel—peat—has to be brought across 
in boats from the Connemara shore, the boats, however, carrying 
back cargoes of limestone, of which that district is destitute. 
These boats are very remarkable, being a survival of the ancient 
curragh or coracle, and are called canoes by the natives ; they are 
16 or 18 feet in length, and without keel ; the woodwork, both 
longitudinal and transverse, consists of bent narrow strips of wood, 
which are fastened together, and the bottom covered with tarred 
canvas instead of the hides formerly used. ‘The boats are propelled 
