212 MY LIFE 



themselves to a cup of tea, which is as universal a necessary among 

 the fair sex here as in other parts of the kingdom. They prefer it, too, 

 without milk, which they say takes away the taste, and as it is gener- 

 ally made very weak, that may be the case. Once or twice a week a 

 piece of bacon or dry beef is added to dinner or supper, more as a 

 relish to get down the potatoes than as being any food in itself. The 

 beef in particular is so very high-dried and hard as almost to defy the 

 carver's most strenuous efforts. The flavour is, nevertheless, at times 

 very fine when the palate gets used to it, though the appearance is far 

 from inviting, being about the colour and not far from the hardness 

 of the black oak table. They generally keep it in a large chest in oat- 

 meal (which was before mentioned). Often, when lodging at a little 

 country inn, have we, when just awake in the morning, seen one of 

 the children come stealthily into the room, open the lid of the huge 

 chest, climb over the edge of it, and, diving down, almost disappear 

 in its recesses, whence, after sundry efforts and strainings, he has 

 reappeared, dragging forth a piece of the aforesaid black beef, which 

 is obtained thus early that it may be soaked a few hours before boiling, 

 to render it more submissive to the knife. 



From the foregoing particulars it will be seen that these people live 

 almost entirely on vegetable food. When a cow or a pig is killed, for 

 a day or two they luxuriate on fresh meat; but this is the exception, 

 not the rule. Herrings, too, they are fond of as a relish, as well as 

 cockles and other indigestible food; but neither these nor the beef and 

 bacon can be considered to be the staple food of the peasantry, which 

 is, in one form or another, potatoes, oatmeal, bread, cheese, and milk. 



The great consumption of oatmeal produces, as might be expected, 

 cutaneous diseases, though, generally speaking, the people are tolerably 

 healthy. They have a great horror of the doctor, whom they never send 

 for but when they think there is some great danger. So long as the 

 patient is free from pain they think all is right. They have not the 

 slightest idea of what an invalid ought to eat. If gruel is ordered, they 

 make a lumpy oatmeal pudding, to which, however, the sick man will 

 frequently prefer bread and cheese. When they have gone on in this 

 way till the unhappy individual is in the greatest danger and the med- 

 ical attendant insists upon his directions being attended to, they un- 

 willingly submit; and if the patient dies, they then impute it entirely 

 to the doctor, and vow they will never call him in to kill people again. 



As in most rural districts, by constant inter-marriages every family 

 has a host of relations in the surrounding country. All consider it their 

 duty to attend a funeral, and almost every person acquainted with the 

 deceased attends as a mark of respect. Consequently the funerals are 

 very large, often two or three hundred persons, and when the corpse 

 has to be carried a distance, most of them come on horseback, which, 

 with the varied colours of the women's dresses and the solemn sounds 



