522 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



tlie -work of the family and help in various ways, hence their school- 

 attendance is often irregular, as they are frequently wanted at home to 

 take their part in various kinds of work. They leave school early, at 

 about fourteen years of age, and then enter at once into the struggle 

 for life as grown-up people, and may either emigi'ate or stay at home 

 to continue the same style of life as their parents before them. 

 They marry early and the matches are, as a rule, arranged by the 

 parents there being no previous courtship. In some cases, however, 

 the young couple who have had a fancy for each other, and whose 

 parents would not consent to the match, have been known to elope 

 together to the mountains, so that the marriage had to be consented 

 to by their parents. These cases, however, were extremely rare. 

 Monetary considerations are usually the chief matter attended to in the 

 concluding of a match. A fortune is expected with the bride, and the 

 groom receives a "stripe" of his father's holding on which a new 

 house is erected for him. The last son left at home shares the house 

 with his parents, and brings his wife home to them. jMen marry at a 

 very early age, some even at sixteen years old, usually under the age of 

 twenty-foui'. Griiis are marriageable from fifteen years and upwards. 

 The customs relating to infants are practically the same as those 

 described in the report on Gorumna. 



After a death the body is usually kept for two days before burial. 

 "Wakes are held at which most of the old games are still kept up, but 

 whiskey is now seldom provided, porter taking its place. Relatives 

 and neighbours will not do any work from the time of a death until 

 after the funeral as a sign of respect for the deceased. On reaching the 

 graveyard the coffin is carried once round the enclosure before being 

 borne to the place of interment ; formerly it was the custom to bear it 

 thrice, but this has ceased to be the case for some years back. As is 

 usual in the west the grave is not dug until after the funeral has reached 

 the graveyard. Pipes and tobacco are usually served out at the 

 cemetery, but the custom of putting pipes on the grave does not exist 

 here. The caoine is to be heard at all funerals here. 



When the grave is filled in it is covered by a flat topped heap of 

 stones or cairn, and the corner stone of an old church is said to be valued 

 as a headstome. A cross of wood or stone is usually erected as a 

 memorial, and the graves of the better-to-do people are often covered 

 by a flat covering stone bearing devices of a religious natiu'e, and the 

 usual inscriptions. 



The people as a rule rise early and work hard if somewhat 

 irregularly. 



