NORTHERN HIBERNIA. 



AN AMERICAN IRRIGATION ENGINEER'S PROFES- 

 SIONAL SURVEY THROUGH THE 

 COUNTRY. 



BY LODIAX LODIAN, C. E., Paris, Prance. 



(Original for this Journal.) 



My chief object in this second trip to the north of Ireland was to 

 make various hydrographic surveys in connection with a call for a re- 

 port on the projected isthmus to connect septentrional Anglia and 

 Erin. As this is also a big irrigation project, lower down I will say a 

 little relative thereto. 



My professional researches brought me in close contact with the 

 poor men, women and children who are the backbone of Ireland; and 

 the memory of this short sojourn is filled with pleasure at the frank, 

 open character of the people, and the charming bonhomie and kind- 

 ness with which they meet those in whom their keen perception de- 

 tects sympathy. The Irish boys and girls have a most attractive 

 ingenuousness about them that is, the poor cotters' and small farmers' 

 children you meet in the hills and in the glens, looking after the sheep 

 or going to milk their small goats and cows. One peculiar habit I 

 noticed was that of the barefooted and bareheaded Irish girls, in per- 

 chance returning with some purchases from an adjacent village, of 

 sheltering themselves under one shawl not from any need of shelter 

 against adverse weather, but simply from a sort of clinging lovingness 

 of nature, adherent in the mass of poor Irish. 



As a rule, they are keenly sensitive, appreciative and accurate in 

 their ability to read character, and, with their open impulsiveness, they 

 act quickly upon their judgment in meeting a stranger. Their facility 

 of utterance contrasts remarkably with what holds with the same class 

 of farm girls in England, who generally lack words for a prompt reply. 

 Here, in this respect only, the Irish are distinctly French -like. We 

 are apt to forget that their mother tongue is Erse, and that they have 

 had to learn another language the English which they often speak 

 with facility, seldom hesitating for words to express their ideas, though 

 the broad vowels, full rs and strongly aspirated h's largely inflect 

 their speech. The mountain air seems to bloom on their cheeks and 

 add vivacity to their sparkling eyes; and the purity of their lives to 

 make them speak from their souls, rather than simply by their mouths 

 as is the case with more educated'people. 



