Irish Heritage : The Landscape, the People and Their '4)
ork. y. E. Estyn Evans. (Dundalk : W. Tempest, Dundalgan Press. 8s. 6d.
To anyone with a sense of appreciation of the continuity of country life and Work this is a fascinating book. Not only is Ire:and pre- dominantly rural : it is also a country of peasant ownership. (Thirty- eight per cent. of the farm holdings in Northen Ireland are under fifteen acres in extent.) Further: " Ireland has preserved to a remarkable degree the customs and social habits of the pre-industrial phase of western civilisation." Old ways are passing in Ireland as everywhere else ; but it still remains true that nowhere in Western Europe offers a better field of exploration for the study of a rural life uninfluenced by modern mechanised methods. Dr. Evans is well suited for such an exploration. Sensitive and accurate, he avoids entirely- the sentimental approach that sees beauty only in " bygones." With scrupulous detachment, and largely from his own research; he has set down in this well-produced little book all he could discover of a rural culture that reaches back to pre-Celtic antiquity. He builds his evidence first on the solid foundation of geology ; then he takes us into the fields and homes of the Irish peasants and shows us, in their tools and implements, their husbandry, their customs and beliefs, the continuing tradition as it exists today. Irish Heritage is illustrated with numerous drawings from the author's own pen as precise and informative as the text itself.
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