Where Taxes are Unknown.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13608, 30 May 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

Where Taxes are Unknown.

CURIOUS CUSTOMS,

CHAICMIXG SIMPLICITY.

Few jioeple are aware that there is a spot in Ireland—on the small outlandish island of Inisbmaan—where the people have neither paid rates, nor taxes, nor rent for three years. They have no police. no coastguard, no lighthouse, nor anything that- can remind them that they are the subjects of King Kdward VII. If. you want to indulge in the simple life ?writt-s a correspondent of tht» Xew York Sun) this i<s the place to visit. For a fortnight at a time you may hear nothing of the world outside, but if the weather i> good a steamer comes out- from Galway three times a week. During a Teoent. -torni we were not vrVnttd for a fortnight, and we were all on short commons. PIG BEARING AND PISHING.

I anr working away at- Irish, which is the most difficult- tongue I ever tackled. Th®-"aspirations and eclipses play the deuce "w .*x one's brains, yet the smallest childTen here never make a mistake. Here is an example : " Gab i leit " is pronounced " Gullia." Tlie b and t are aspirated, and become silent, yet even so it is hard to get "Gullia," from what remains. It means "Come here." Admar (lucky) i\ pronounced awer. Caoteamail (opportune) is pronounced keekool. Meudugad (increasing) is pronounced matdhoo. These are only a few of the least puzzling features of the language, but the result is a sweetness, a fluidity, and a richness that Event." even Italian. Wry ft-w of ilie people know any English. This is the middle island of the Aran group, which lies well out in the Atlantic, in front of Galway Bay. Inishmaan is the most Irish "of the three. The population is 400. The climate is mild enough for maiden hair ferns to grow in the open; already we have primroses in full bloom. Pig rearing and fishing are the only occupations. I never tasted more exquisite fob. We sometimes hav»- a cod. a turbot. or a haddock for dinner that was stHI idive vrh"-n brought to the h us--. TTiese people are the descendants of the Firbolgs, who were driven to these isles, as a last refuge, out of Ireland by th« Milesians. Their forts still remain; some date from 1500 years B.C.

CURIOUS CUSTOMS. Dr. Petrie has described Dun i&ngus as the most magnificent barbaric monument left in Europe. It is on the large island (Aranmore), and stands on the verge of a cliff rising 500 feefc from the Atlantic. It consists o£ three horse-shoe -walls of cydopean masonry without cement of any kind. Ontside the outermost walls there are chevaux-de-frixe consisting of huge bulbs of limestone stuck in the solid rock and sloping towards the enemy. This was set there at the time of Christ, and is still difficult to pass, although there are no Firbolgs to make it even harder. It is a fine sight during a storm to see immense waves dash against these cliffs and dissolve into stray. I have seen the spray carried far inland over a cliff 200 ft high. On the island there is an almost perfect specimen of a pre-Christian lieeliivc dwelling, which -was the earliest style of Irish stone architecture. The customs of the people are as curious as their island. They firmly believe in the fairies. One -wild night I visited some people and gave an account of the fairies I pretended I had seen, and the people around the turf lire in the kitchen shivered with fear. KEENING THEIR DEAD.

One old fellow* said he "would not go home; ho was too afraid. He did notlive tive minuUii away! Finally I got. a strapping young fellow to undertake to accompany him oil my lending him my stick, which they consider a magic wand, and on my giving him a further safeguard should the fairies come to them. All he had to say was " I'ocula mea" and they would flee screeming away. Horace never dreamed that his words would bo used as a spell against- fairies in a remote Irish isle in the twentieth century! Off they went, and they continued to repeat Pocuia mea" all the way, and without waiting for the fairies* to approach. We had a funeral recently, and queer customs prevailed at the ceremony. The grave is not dug until the corpse is on the spot. No priest \ras present, as the weather was rough. When we got to the quaint old churchyard the whole population dispersed to their own family graves and the women melodiously keened their dead... After in while they iegath-

ered around the coffin, a*-.iheii some of tho men set to work to remove the heavy slab covering the grave. A gale was blowing, and occasionally it rained. it took a long time to remove the stone, and then several men took out a, lot. of loose stones till they cauie to the. earth, which tliev .shovelled out. TEAKS AND LAUGHTER.

Occasionally a bone or a skull came, up too, so that when poor, pretty Maiy Folan was laid at rest she went in every xense ad patre.s, for her aneestars were both l>elow and above her, all the bones I being replaced on top of the coffin. While the digging went on, women keened, men smoked, and occasionally a iok- w;-; cracked which set many laughing. It was Irish all over, for tears and laughter blended together. There was no conscious levity, but- Anglo-Saxon spectators would have been mightily scandalised— God-help them ! It is a pleasing habit here that no work is done while a corpse lie.s unburied, and a<s potheen and porter are plentiful, some of the mourners were in deeply spiritual vein. The men are built on mgnificent lines. Tliey can carry weights such as T never saw carried before; they never eat meat, are as often wet as dry, stand chatting in pouring rain as though they were basking in sunshine, and are capable of any amount of -work without- feeling fatigue. The one thing that has struck me about them is their utter indifference to personal comfort. They fear nothin"- tl>n' is 'nniriblethe fairies knocked them hollow. Xo tiling English is bought in the island. When all Ireland imitates Tnishmaan ue need not bother about' Home" Rule, as we have ib without asking for it.