Browne — The Ethnography of Clare Island and InishturJc. 61 



really be a richer man and larger cattle holder than one paying a 

 larger rental. 



There are no ploughs or harrows on the islands, all the tillage being 

 spade work. The manures consist of seaweed and farm-yard manure. 



An average family has a couple of pigs, a cow or two, a number 

 ■of fowl, geese, or ducks, and a donkey, or horse ; most families keep 

 a brood mare. The fuel used is turf, much of it ^'scraw" turf 

 raised off the surface of the land which has been completely ruined in 

 some places by this custom. There are no regular bogs, but in some 

 of the hollows among the hills there are small areas in which the peat 

 is from two to four feet in depth. A good deal of kelp is made, for 

 which the people get about £4 per ton. Other occupations are few ; 

 there are very few tradesmen on the islands ; two weavers make a 

 little frieze and coarse flannel for use on the islands ; the other trades- 

 men are one blacksmith, one carpenter, and two sawyers. 



The women attend to the ordinary household work, cooking, spin- 

 ning, carding, &c. ; they also rear fowls and geese which they sell at 

 "Westport, and export eggs in considerable quantities. The fish caught 

 is eaten fresh in summer, and salted roughly and dried in the sun on 

 roofs and walls for winter use. 



2. Family Life and Customs. — The general characters of family 

 life are much the same as those of the other islands (Bofin and Shark) 

 to the south of them, and the description of the life there practically 

 answers for Clare Island and Inishturk also. 



Marriages are not a matter of romance as a rule, but are arranged 

 by the parents and relatives of the young people. Some of the wed- 

 ding customs are curious ; the night before a wedding the bridegroom 

 and friends go to the bride's father's house ; when they arrive, four 

 bottles are placed on the table, one at each corner, and the parties, are 

 treated by some responsible person at each corner. Feasting and story- 

 telling are kept up until morning when all go to the chapel together 

 for the ceremony ; after which the bride is taken to the husband's 

 house where feasting is kept up as before the nest night. 



On the occasion of a death, windows and doors are opened, and it 

 is not considered right for any one to weep until the death actually 

 occurs. "Wakes are still held, but they are shorn of many of their old 

 observances. As in Bofin and elsewhere, the grave is not dug until 

 the coffin reaches the graveyard. Two funerals starting together, if 

 there should be such an occurrence as two on the same day, would have 

 a race for the cemetery, for the belief still lingers that the spirit of 

 the person last buried has to sit and watch until the next funeral. 



