32 Antiquities^ Social Customs^ &c. 



the magistrates of the old times used to summon his Court for 

 the first fine day, and hold it sitting at a table in the open air. 

 If there was a serious case that his Worship thought should be 

 punished, he would draw out a committal warrant, hand it to 

 the defendant, who, without the intervention of police, or 

 anyone else, would take the warrant, travel to Galway and 

 deliver himself up, warrant in hand, at the county jail. Stokes, 

 in his Hfe of Dr. Petrie, says, " If the inhabitants of the Aran 

 Islands could be considered as a fair specimen of the ancient 

 and present wild Irish, the veriest savages of the globe, as the 

 learned Pinkerton calls them, those whom chance had led to 

 their hospitable shores to admire their simple virtues, would 

 be likely to regret that the blessings of civilisation had ever been 

 extended to this very wretched country." Mr. Milligan next 

 read several letters he received from a very intelligent native of 

 Innishmaan, whose acquaintance he made during his visit. 

 These letters are in reply to a series of questions Mr. Milligan 

 had asked, and are given verbatim as received : — " I beg to 

 acknowledge the receipt of your two letters and the books. 

 The delay in writing sooner is owing to the fact that there is 

 no post office in Innishmaan, and no nearer than Kilronan, in 

 the North Island, and the weather being so bad during the 

 Christmas week that no canoe could leave our island. Your 

 last letter was four days in Galway before reaching North Aran. 

 With regard to the questions asked in your letter — ^first 

 courtship and marriage. In many instances the young couples 

 do have an eye on one another previous to the match-making, 

 but there is hardly any such thing as private meetings ever 

 takes place between them. They will meet on the road and 

 only exchange a few words, and the young man will often 

 drop into the parents' house of an evening for a chat. But in 

 a great many instances a marriage is brought round in this 

 way. The young woman is in her father's kitchen, may be 

 getting dinner ready, when in walks two or three neighbours — 

 elderly men in all cases. Intuitively the object of the visit is 

 known, particularly if it happens between Christmas and Ash 



