Browne — Ethnography of Bally croyy Co. Mayo. 79 



Hair. — The hair is usually a dark brown; next, in order of 

 frequency, comes the lighter shades of brown; then black, which is 

 commoner here than in the Mullet ; then fair, and lastly red. The 

 growth of the hair is fairly abundant, though baldness is not un- 

 common. It is often wavy or curly. The beard is usually some- 

 what lighter in colour than the hair of the scalp, and, if allowed to 

 grow naturally, seems to have, in many cases, a tendency to fork at 

 the end. 



The nigrescence index, for the adults of both sexes, is 57"7l, show- 

 ing a larger percentage of dark and black hair than in any district as 

 yet surveyed. 



The foregoing description is, of course, a general one, applying 

 only to the prevailing type ; there is, however, a second type not 

 unfrequently met with, the chief characters of which are, long oval 

 face, with but slightly marked angles to the jaws, less prominent 

 cheek bones and sharper features. 



The figure seems to be slighter in youth, but to exhibit a tendency 

 to put on flesh with advancing years. The hair, in this type, is 

 usually lighter than the prevailing tint, but may be of any colour, 

 owing to admixture. 



The various authors who have written respecting the men of 

 Ballycroy are fairly agreed concerning them. They usually describe 

 the people as of below the medium height, dark -haired, and athletic. 



In Knight's " Erris in the Irish Highlands,"^ they are „thus 

 described : *■ ' This colony of Ulstermen, at whatever time they settled 

 in this country, still retain the ancient dialect of language used in 

 the north ; intermarry almost exclusively with one another ; a hardy, 

 low-sized, dark-featured race ; bold, daring, and intrepid in danger ; 

 not good-tempered, but hospitable to an extreme." And again : 

 " The mountaineers are remarkably stout and healthy. . . . The 

 journeys they make are quite extraordinary. A fellow in Ballycroy 

 thinks nothing of taking a ten-gallon keg of whisky, weight 150 lbs. 

 at least, and crossing the mountains to Newport, a distance of twenty 

 miles, sells it, and returns home in the evening, without the slightest 

 appearance of fatigue, and carelessly resumes his usual occupation." 



Maxwell ^ gives the following description of the peasantry of Co. 

 Mayo, including the people of Ballycroy, his own locality : — 



" In personal appearance the western peasantry are very inferior 

 to those of the other divisions of the kingdom. Generally they are 



1 Page 106. 



~ " Wild Sports of the West," chap, xliii. 



