THEIR HEIGHT, FORM, AND STRENGTH. 43 



and courageous and capable of supporting every 

 hardship and fatigue, they fear lest they should be 

 instructed in the art of war." 



16. In 1588, Captain Cuellar, of the Spanish 

 Armada, was wrecked on the coast of Donegal or 

 Leitrim. He was sheltered by MacClanchy, Chief of 

 Dartry, in North Leitrim. Of the inhabitants of 

 that and the neighbouring Irish regions he writes : 

 " The wife of my master (MacClanchy) was extremely 

 beautiful, and was very kind to me during the three 

 months I was with them. These savages (selvajes) 

 live like brutes in the mountains, which are very 

 rugged in the country where we were lost. They 

 live in huts made of straw. The men are big- 

 bodied, with handsome faces and fine limbs, active 

 and swift as roe deer.* They dress after their 

 fashion in tight hose and short coats (sayas) made 

 of very coarse goat*s hair ; f they cover themselves 

 with cloaks and wear their hair down to their eyes. 

 They are great pedestrians, and very enduring as 

 regards fatigue. They are continually at war with 

 the English, who hold a garrison close by, and do 

 not allow them to enter their territory, which is 

 some forty leagues in length and breadth. Most of 



* So Professor O'Reilly ; Major M. A. S. Hume translates, 

 "as greyhounds." 



f Hume has : " They dress in tight brogues and short tunics 

 of thick skin." 



