THEIR HEIGHT, FORM, AND STRENGTH. 33 



CHAPTER II. 



TESTIMONY OP EYE-WITNESSES FROM 1185 TO 1690. 



1. GERALD BARRY, the Welshman, the com- 

 panion of the first Anglo-Norman invaders : " All 

 animals of Ireland * are smaller than those of other 

 lands, man alone retaining all his majesty. Nature 

 alone has moulded the Irish ; and, as if to show 

 what she can do, has given them countenances of 

 most exquisite colour, and bodies of great beauty, 

 symmetry, height, and strength. . . They use 

 three kinds of arms, long lances, two javelins, and 

 battle axes of the finest tempered steel. . . They 

 use one hand only in wielding the axe ; the thumb 

 fixed along the upper part of the handle directs the 

 blow with such power and precision, that the helmet 



* I took this from a translation. As it is not literal enough, 

 I give a few excerpts from the original: "Fere cuncta 

 naturze relinquuntur . . . Sola natura quos edidit artus,. prater 

 artis cujuslibet adminicula pro siii arbitrio et componit et dis- 

 ponit. Tanquam it-aque probans quid per se valeat, fingere non 

 cessat et figurare quousque in robur pei'fectum pulcherrimis 

 et proceris corporibus, conjarruis et coloratissimis vultibus 

 homines istos provehat et producat. Ceterum, licet ad plenum 

 naturre dotibus excolantur. . . ." Topog. Hib. Distinctio, iii., 

 cap. x. 



C 



