Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 8, 1897.djvu/34

12 of the persistence of the most primitive modes of thought beneath the surface of our civilisation. Thank you for bringing it to my notice

Yours very truly,

Short notes on "Straw Goblins" and "Marks on Ancient Monuments" (see pp. 87, 86), by Mr. C. G. Leland, were read; and some observations upon the latter were offered by Mr. Gomme, Mr. Naake, and Dr. Gaster.

Mr. L. Goldmerstein read a paper entitled "The Part played by Water in Marriage Customs" (see p. 84). In the discussion which followed. Dr. Gaster, Messrs. Gomme and Nutt, and the President took part.

A paper on the "Customs of the Peasantry of Innishowen," by Mr. Thomas Doherty of Carndonagh, was read by the President. A discussion followed, in which Messrs. Nutt, Higgens, and Kirby took part.

Hair.—Along the seaboard districts, the prevailing colour of the hair among men and women is red, light red, or sandy. Many assert that this is to be attributed to some peculiar action of the sea air, the salt water, the diet (chiefly fish), or the employment. Most of the people in these places are engaged in outdoor pursuits, in all seasons and in all weathers—principally agriculture and fishing. I rather think that hereditary influences are the prevailing causes. The inhabitants are mostly descendants of the old Celtic tribes, pretty tall, strongly made, of straight long visage,