Mahaffy — The. Introduction of the Ass into Ireland. 533 



fore, the Eoyal Dublin Society did uot enjoin upon these inquirers the duty 

 of reporting on the use of asses, it was most unlikely that they would have 

 ignored it had it been of importance in any county ; and in particular 

 they entrusted five counties to one of their most important members- 

 Sir Charles Coote — who reported first on what I may call his own two 

 counties, King's and Queen's, and their on the three midland counties of 

 Ulster — Armagh, Monaghan, and Cavan. We may therefore assume that if 

 he found asses worth mentioning in any one of these counties, he would do so 

 in the rest. He gives a careful and minute account of all the husbandry in 

 these counties. He has chapters on the live stock, on ploughing with oxen, 

 on fau's and markets — in fact, on every detail of the agriculture. 



What evidence does he afford on the question before us ? His last 

 (Armagh) volume is dated 1804, his earliest 180). In foiu- of these volumes 

 I could not find the ass even mentioned, though he speaks frequently of the 

 poverty of the cottiers, and their difficulty in cultivating even an acre of land 

 with the help of an occasional horse. He talks of the better class ploughing 

 with three horses abreast, where an ass might have been substituted for one. 

 He tells us in the barony of Trough (Monaghan) of manure of all sorts 

 " scraped together, and carried out on the backs of the poor people who cannot 

 afford to keep a horse for the use of their little farm " (p. 148). And presently 

 we come (p. 164) in the barony of Monaghan to a passage in which he says : 

 " In this and several counties of the North of Ireland they use a small,_ 

 strong breed of horses which comes from Eathlin Island, off the Antrim 

 coast. This breed seldom exceeds 3 guineas in price, and are most durable 

 and serviceable, especially in a hilly county." 



There then follows this sentence : — " Asses are also very numerous here. 

 Frequently 100 of these animals may be counted in the busy seasons, within 

 the circuit of a mile or two. They are found extremely serviceable, and are 

 very easily fed. They are particularly fond of the tops of furze and green 

 whins, which also contribute much to the feeding of the Eathery (Eathlin) 

 horses" (p. 165). This solitary utterance in a careful survey of five counties 

 corresponds with the other evidence which has been adduced. Sir Charles 

 speaks with no surprise of this plenty of asses. He may possibly, in spite of 

 his obdurate silence, have seen some at least in the neighbouring counties of 

 Armagh and Cavan. But one thing is certain : they were as yet of no import 

 as a help to the life and labour of the poor. By the rich they were certainly 

 not used for labour. 



Not content with evidence from one witness, 1 examined the similar 

 surveys by other specialists of Kilkenny and Wexford, in Leinster ; of 

 Londonderry, Antrim, and Down, in Ulster ; of Leitrim, Galway, Clare, and 



