102 THE IRISH PEOPLE. 



and frieze, though I am sorry to say the practice 

 is going out. 



" They are much poorer than they were a few 

 years ago, the holdings are small and much of their 

 land is of indifferent quality, but they have 

 abundance of turf for fuel and the run of the 

 mountains attached to their holdings gives them 

 grazing for a number of cattle, and thus enables 

 them to keep their houses warm, and to provide 

 plenty of milk for themselves and their families. 



" One glen in particular, Glen Easky, was com- 

 pletely isolated until I made a road into it about 

 fifteen years ago, and I should say the average 

 height of the men was and is six feet. You certainly 

 do see occasionally curious specimens of an ap- 

 parently inferior race, and I have often noticed 

 them in Ballina on market days. 



" As the Connaught winter assizes have been 

 frequently held in Sligo, I have had opportunities 

 of seeing the witnesses, many of them Irish-speaking, 

 from very wild districts in Mayo and Galway, 

 physically they were not, in my opinion, inferior 

 to any race. One of the finest and handsomest 

 young fellows I ever saw came from Letterfrack. 

 To a great extent I was glad to notice that these 

 people still wore their native dress, much more 

 becoming and better suited to a damp climate 



