34 Antiquities^ Social Customs^ &c. 



here ; never heard about her. The belief in ghosts and fairies 

 is vague, not a firm belief ; but there are many who would not 

 on any account go out alone at night, whilst others will go out 

 in the darkest night anywhere. The devotion at holy wells is 

 still very great, and it was quite a common thing for people to 

 remain at a holy well all night during the summer season in 

 prayer ; but certainly this practice is getting less and less. As 

 regards May Day, it is an old habit not to change cattle from 

 one field to another on that day. Steamer coming in, and I 

 must now conclude in haste ; more next letter. There is no 

 poteen made in the Aran Islands, but it was made in Innishraann 

 until about eight years ago, when it ceased. There is a custom 

 of midwives. After the birth ot a child, if the labour has been 

 painful and the woman much exhausted, nine articles of the 

 husband's clothing are brought and dropped over her as she 

 lies, one by one, saying three times, ' Father, Son, and Holy 

 Ghost.' Wooden drinking vessels, or methers, of one piece, 

 have quite disappeared. I remember one in my father's house 

 when I was growing up. In reply to the question. Are the 

 people musical ? It is a fact that there are no professional 

 musicians on any of the islands, nor have been in my recollection. 

 We have always a visit from a piper or a fiddler on pattern 

 days. He comes sometimes from the County Clare, and some- 

 times from Galvvay. But there are plenty of people who can sing 

 well and whistle. Some of the best whistlers one could hear are 

 to be found on the islands. The young people are beginning 

 to get melodeons, and are learning to play them. There is 

 occasionally a dance in the winter evenings, with the melodeon 

 playing. Some fishermen are in the habit of always bringing 

 with them a very small bottle of water from one of the holy 

 wells when going to fish. They keep it in the canoe under the 

 gunwale. A habit that used to prevail in some families, but 

 the practice was not quite general, and is disappearing, was for 

 a person intending to go to America to remain up all night, if 

 in summer, in prayer beside one of the holy wells, the night 

 before leaving home. American thought and feeling, however, 



