PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE llOYAL IRISH ACADEMY 



PAPERS READ BEFORE THE ACADEMY 



I. 



ON THE ''KERRY STRAW CLOAK EXHIBIT": ITS PEO- 

 EABLE LUSITANIAN OR GALICIAN ORIGIN, AND ITS 

 BEARING ON THE QUESTION OF FORMER RELATIONS 

 BETWEEN IRELAND AND NORTH-WESTERN SPAIN. 

 By JOSEPH P. O'REILLY, C.E. 



Read November 30, 1903. Published February 4, 1904. 



About the commencement of the past year (1903) there was placed 

 on view in the Gallery of the Museum of Science and Art of Dublin, 

 a "Dress worn for dance, in traditional ceremony, County Kerry," 

 lent by C. R. Browne, Esq., m.d. (fig. 1, p. 2). 



This very briefly worded label does not call attention to the 

 material of this dress, which is of straw, nor does it furnish any 

 details relative thereto. These will probably appear in Dr. Browne's 

 Report on the Ethnography of the County Kerry. 



It may seem exaggeration to say, that no more important or interest- 

 ing ethnographical specimen has been exhibited in the Museum than 

 this straw dress or cloak, particularly from the historical point of view, 

 since with the County Kerry are connected so many Spanish and 

 Iberian traditions, both as regards the origin of the race which 

 inhabits it, the manners and customs of the people, and the monuments 

 that are peculiar to the country ; so that to fully understand them, as 

 regards their origins and significances, one should have studied not 

 only all the references to Spain contained in our Irish mss., but also the 

 ethnography of the western and north-western parts of the Spanish 

 Peninsula, and become familiar with such works as de Cartaillac's 



R. I. A. PROC, VOL. XXV., SEC. C.J [1] 



