10 
MEMOIR OE THE LATE ROBERT BALL* LL.D. 
The excursion occupied only nine daj^s. Immediately after his return 
Mr. Ball committed all the little incidents of the tour to writing, in the 
form of a journal addressed to one of his sisters. Nearly a quarter of a 
century has since passed by, and Time has been busy-in the interval, 
changing to the visitor the mode of locomotion, and much that was pe¬ 
culiar in the physical and mental characteristics of the inhabitants. 
Some interest attaches to the narrative, as conveying the impressions 
formed by two observant and intelligent travellers; but the extracts 
now given have been selected for a different reason. They convey the 
most truthful, the most unstudied evidence of the mind of him by whom 
they were written. They show his -quickness of observation, and his 
range of zoological knowledge; his quiet enjoyment of the ludicrous, 
and his wish practically to inculcate anything useful. In the peculiar 
and somewhat antiquated style of expression, those who were intimate 
with him will recognise phrases that to him were habitual. The Dean 
appears throughout in the most amiable light, putting up good-humour¬ 
edly with the rude accommodation which the locality afforded, and de¬ 
sirous on all occasions of forwarding the pursuits of his companion. 
The travellers started from Dublin by the night-mail on Monday, 
the 8th of June, and reached Galway next morning. The Journal, 
which is termed by its writer, “ Account of a Travel into Arran and 
county of Galway,” informs us that they sought a “ native boat,” and 
started for Arran “ in a miserable hooker, laden with salt and women, 
taking as a sea-store two lobsters.” It fell calm, so that they had to 
remain on board during the night, but “ had the use of the quarter¬ 
deck conjointly with an old woman, who never had a cap, bonnet, shoes, 
or stockings; and a sailor, fisher, smuggler, who never had his feet 
cased in aught but pomputies, with a Gospel tied about his neck to pro¬ 
tect him from peril at sea and dangers by land, and for which he had 
paid his priest half-a-crown.” The peculiar article of dress just men¬ 
tioned as worn on the feet of the sailor is thus explained:— 
“.The pomputie is the only peculiarity in the dress of the men. It 
is a sort of shoe made of a single bit of raw hide, drawn up by two 
strings, and is- really a good thing for travelling over rocks. The 
women’s dress is very peculiar almost all through the county of Gal¬ 
way and places thereunto adjacent; it is simple, and looks well. The 
great majority wear only a jacket and petticoat of a red crimson, sub¬ 
dued, coloured woollen stuff; their hair Madonna style, twisted up at 
the poll; feet bare; a few of the richer wear shoes, and stockings of a 
kind of powder-blue colour, and cloaks to match. These harmonize very 
well with the red garments, and give a picturesque effect.” 
“We arrived at 5 o’clock a. m. in the island of Arran, and found a 
fleet of boats just going to fish. The women, in their reds, coming 
down to the shore with tubs, &c., for the salt we had on board, had a 
fine effect. The morning clear and fresh, the sea as transparent and 
smooth as glass, and nothing to break the silence save the noise of the 
sweeps (large oars) of the boats going out, and the Irish jargon of the 
women announcing fliow many pounds (they are too ignorant to count 
