22 THE IRISH AGRARIAN PROBLEM. 



same house, and if we classify not the houses 

 but the dwellings, we get the following 

 picture : — 



The Irish mud cabin with its hump-backed 

 straw roof which in place of a chimney has a 

 hole, whose windows, if indeed any there are, 

 cannot be opened, whose floor is the bare ground, 

 whose furniture is a couple of planks which serve 

 as a bed and a couple of other planks which 

 claim the title of cupboard, is the most primitive 

 dwelling-place that can be imagined. It has 

 frequently no proper fireplace ; against one of 

 the walls and on the bare ground the turf is set 

 alight. The only ventilation effected is through 

 the door or the hole in the thatch. A couple of 

 little stools and a dresser upon which stand 

 broken cups complete the furniture. Frequently 

 cow and calf, pig and hens, share the dwelling 

 with the owners. Of such houses there are 

 10,000 in Ireland. But the houses also of the 

 third class, often built of loose stones, sub-divided 

 by partitions into several rooms and generally 

 having two doors which can be closed according 

 to the direction of the wind, exhibit, for the 

 greater part, such a low degree of comfort as is 



