DISTILLATION. 279 



notions of what appears to them nothing but retributive 

 justice. 



The grave offences with which these wild people are 

 principally charged appear to be abduction and murder ; 

 and both are of frequent recurrence. The first, indeed, 

 is so prevalent, that any lady bent upon celibacy had better 

 avoid Ballycroy, and particularly so if she has obtained 

 the reputation of being opulent. This crime, however, 

 is seldom of a dark character, and is generally traceable 

 to local causes, and the very unceremonious mode 

 in which parents conclude matches between their chil- 

 dren without consulting the inclinations of the parties 

 most concerned in the affair. Probably the whole 

 matter is arranged between the fathers during an acci- 

 dental meeting at a fair, or likelier yet, over an egg-shell* 

 drinking-bout in a poteen-house. The due propor- 

 tions of cattle and dry-money\ which are to be given and 

 received are regularly specified ; and the youthful 

 couple who are to be united by the silken bond of 

 Hymen are first acquainted with their purposed happi- 

 ness after the priest has been sent for to solemnise the 

 nuptials. No wonder, therefore, if the lady have 

 another liaison, that she intimates her feelings to the 

 fortunate man. He finds no difficulty in enlisting a 

 sufficient number of his faction to *' hoist away " the 

 intended bride, and carry her to some distant hill or 

 island. Then a wonderful series of bargain-making 

 commences : upon the lady's side it being insisted that 

 the abductor shall forthwith make her " an honest 



* It may be easily imagined that glass is a scarce article in Bally- 

 croy. Accordingly, in the still and drinking houses, an egg-shell 

 is used as a substitute. 



t " Dry money " is synonymous with " hard cash." 



