Browne — Ethnography of Carna and Mweenish, Conneniara. 517 



material for such, not having come under my notice clunng my stay in 

 the district, and I had not the advantage of meeting the medical 

 officer. The folloTving notes, however, were made, based on personal 

 observation and on inquiries made from persons who knew the district 

 well. The population seems, on the whole, to be a healthy one in 

 spite of its poverty and the nature of the dwellings and other adverse 

 conditions. They seem to live to a good old age judging by the 

 inscriptions on the tombstones. 



Consanguineous mamages are said to be very common, and no doubt 

 the strain was kept fairly pure by the difficulties of communication. 

 I was unable to get any definite information as to the proportion home 

 by consanguineous marriages to all others, but note that at the present 

 time it is rare to find any persons whose parents have come from out- 

 side their own townland ; rarer still the cases in which the parents have 

 come from outside the parish. There exists between the people tke 

 same likeness to one another previously noted in other secluded districts. 



Insanity is not common. There are several cases of idiocy and 5 

 of deaf -mutism ; 3 in one family on Mason Island. One of them is a 

 dwarf and defonned (I have not seen him, but from what I heard it 

 seems to be a case of cretinism). The prevailing diseases seem to be 

 digestive troubles from the natiu'e of th.e food, rheumatism, and respira- 

 tory diseases. Tuberculosis is said to be far from uncommon. And 

 in this connexion Father Pinlay says : — " Pulmonary diseases are 

 rife in Carna, and to this outcome of this prevailing ' hardship ' a large 

 proportion of deaths are due. The wonder, indeed, is tkat a very 

 much, larger number of the inhabitants do not fall victims to phthisis 

 and the allied diseases." Skin diseases are also common. 



4. PsycTiology. — On this most delicate subject we shall say but 

 little, as personal observation during a visit of limited duration such as 

 this was is apt to be misleading in some things, and local information 

 is often tinged one way or the other with prejudice. What is not put 

 down here from personal experience is derived from informants who by 

 daily acqaintance with the people and local knowledge were likely to 

 be reliable, and the following account is believed to be accurate so far 

 as it goes. 



The people of this district, like those of all this coast, are shrewd 

 and intelligent to a degree, and quick at taking up information. They 

 are, however, largely bound by traditional ideas, and hesitate in many 

 cases at doing anything out of the beaten track which their parents 

 and grand-parents before them have followed. They are rather 

 distrustful of strangers, especially at first, but are kindly and hospitable 

 once this distrust is dispelled by further acquaintance. They are sober 



