A DAY UP THE RIVER. 129 



" Colonel Hamilton Smith, in that ex- 

 tremely learned and very particularly dry 

 book of his," said the Captain, "shows 

 clearly that the Celtic races may be known 

 at once by the extra thickness of their skulls. 

 It is a sort of special dispensation of Pro- 

 vidence ; like the thick fur of the northern 

 animals, it adapts them to their condition of 

 life." 



"We are to understand, then," said the 

 Squire, "that in breaking his neighbour's 

 head, Paddy is only fulfilling his mission?" 



" Well, I should hope so," said the Parson, 

 "for fight he will, at all events. It was as 

 much as I could do, just now, to keep 

 Slievan here from jumping overboard to join 

 the fray ; and one would like to convince 

 one's self that, in so doing, he was only per- 

 forming his duty in that state of life in which 

 he was placed." 



