THEIR HEIGHT, FORM, AND STRENGTH. 103 



than the fashionable bonnets and hats with tawdry 

 flowers and draggled feathers which the women in 

 this county have generally adopted. The working 

 peasants of this county, I cannot speak for Mayo 

 or Leitrim, are fairly good-looking, not unlike the 

 Scotch, but you do not see amongst the women the 

 beauty I remember years ago seeing in Gal way and 

 the South of Ireland. 



" I have shown this letter, and I have spoken, to 

 several friends who know different districts in this 

 county and the borders of Roscommon, and they 

 agree with what I have stated. 



" No doubt hardships were inflicted on the native 

 Irish after the rebellions of 1641 and 1689 in the 

 same way, and probably not more than the English 

 settlers had previously suffered. The race, there- 

 fore, may have deteriorated for a time, but by the 

 survival of the fittest I suppose we have now in 

 this part of Ireland a stroner, nealthy, long-lived and 

 prolific race." 



102. 31st August, 1886. Colonel Wood-Martin, 

 of Cleveragh, Co. Sligo, Deputy Lieutenant of Co. 

 Sligo, and Colonel of the Sligo Artillery : " I have 

 had the opinions of three gentlemen, who live on 

 the borders of Mayo and Sligo, and who represent 

 the natives as a ' fine race of men.' I regret that I 

 have lost their letters, but I can give this excerpt 



