and stones. Pensioners, who were accustomed to firearms, were hired
for the occasion; but the weapon chiefly used was a short scythe, and
men may still be found bearing its mark in contracted legs and arms:
one man having Tim Halisy, his mark; another, Paddy Murphy, his mark,
indelibly inscribed on his body. They had little or no agriculture--no
wheeled cart, and scarcely even a spade. A crop of oats was a
curiosity; and when there was such a thing, the only mode of conveying
it to market was on a horse's back. Their agricultural operations were
confined to feeding cattle, and they depended on their milk and butter
for paying their rent, and purchasing the necessaries of life. Their
mode of carrying butter to Cork was curious. I have often seen crowds
of thirty, forty, or fifty men, seated on little ill-formed horses,
which had two panniers swinging on the back, containing frequently
only a single firkin of butter in one, and a stone in the other, the
man being seated between. They fed their horses on the road-side,
never entering an inn-yard; and they generally travelled by night. No
one would trust another with his property; and on their journey of
forty Irish miles, they expended no money. The scythe was their
farming-implement to cut such coarse hay as grew in the bottoms near
rivers. On Whitsunday, whoever could keep possession of a large stone
called _Carrigun na Killeagh_, was champion for the year, and the
party to which he belonged was triumphant until the next annual
battle. On one occasion, the battle was almost ended, the champion was
possessor of the stone for nearly the prescribed time; he gave one
cheer of victory, then another, and was about to give the crowning
cheer, when a signal was made to a pensioner, who had been hired for
the purpose, and placed in ambush. He fired, and the ball pierced the
conqueror's neck, without mortally wounding him. The man fell, and
while on the ground, was seen pulling the moss and grass around him,
and stuffing them into the wound, to prevent the flow of blood, that