THEIR HEIGHT, FORM, AND STRENGTH. 125 



Ivomen, with cloaks carelessly disposed in picturesque 

 draperies, while their attitude bespoke the presence 

 of youthful affection and innocent simplicity." 



Dr. W. Stokes, who quotes this in Petrie's Life, 

 adds that for the last ten years in Aran, out of a 

 population of 3,300, with only one magistrate, 

 there was only one per thousand committed 

 annually to prison, and not one sent for trial to 

 assizes in quarter sessions. 



134. In 1833, the Rev. William H. Maxwell, in 

 his Wild Sports of the West, writes : " In personal 

 appearance the Western peasantry are very inferior 

 to those of the other divisions of the kingdom 

 generally. They are undersized, and by no means 

 so good-looking as their Southern neighbours ; and 

 I would say in other points they are equally 

 deficient. To overcome their early lounging gait 

 and slovenly habits is found by military men a 

 troublesome task ; and while the Tipperary man 

 speedily passes through the hands of the drill- 

 sergeant, the Mayo peasant requires a long and 

 patient ordeal before a martial carriage can be 

 acquired, and he be perfectly set up as a soldier. 

 These defects once conquered, none are better for 

 the profession. Hardy, active, patient in wet and 

 cold, and accustomed to indifferent and irregular 

 food, he is admirably adapted to endure the priva- 



