Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-03-18
KEIP CATERERS.
TIE IRISH PEOPLE WHO DWELL ON
 THE ISLAND OF MYNlsH.

1e%AA
 Very Remunerative One, but They Are
 Strong and Healthy Men.
 Right on the western borders of the land, and upon the numerous islands and peninsulas which are the common natural features of this broken part of the Irish coast, the kelp gatherers live In certain sense they seem to be an amphibious sort of folk and draw their sustenance, apparently always more or less scanty and precarious, from sea and land alike. Let us picture their exist ence for a moment, such as we may see it on the island of Mynish, not far from Roundstone bay, off the Galway coast. Imagine an island, about 12 miles in circumference, connected with the main land by kind of viaduct recently con- structed by government, low lying and wind swept by the numerous gales of ocean, but crowded with a popula. tion of several hundred human beings Every little cove or bay will have it's cluster of cottages, with their fishing boats anchored close by, ready to run down the bay for mackerel or to fetch load of kelp from the neighboring rocks when wind and weather permit.
 The surface of the island itself, which is strewn with huge granite stones and powders, is parceled out with the most exact and scrutinizing jealousy, and if you attempt short cut across country from one point to anoth- CT your way is blocked by a continual succession of loosely constructed stone walls serving as partitions between an innumerable series of diminutive plots So intricate and puzzling is the arrange ment of these plots that you are not at all surprised to hear that they are 8 source of litigation between the owners of the cottages, who are very fond of invoking the law i'll spite of their pow erty stricken condition
 Cottages" we call them, for the sake of courtesy, but whereas the word "cot- tage' calls up in the English sense some bright and picturesque surroundings and some appearance of comfort these cot tages or cabins of the kelp gatherers suggest every kind of discomfort. The walls are built of the undressed granite blocks picked up from the surface of the island and loosely put together ac- cording to the rules of very primitive masonry But the roof is sometimes of sod, and more often of reed. The absurd contrast between the strength and sta billty of the walls and the feeble char aeter Of the roof strikes the eye immedi- ately. The floors are of very unsatisfac- tory character, as they are simply un- even agreements with muddy interstices and calculated to retain every kind Of filth and abomination. It would be al most impossible to sweep these floors clean even if there existed the will to do it.
 If there is any glass, it Is simply mor- tised into some little chink. and win dow frames are unknown-partly be- cause wood is scarce and expensive and partly because the fisher folk do not de- sire window that will open.
 As far as accommodation is concerned. there are only two rooms on the ground foor--one to be used as kitchen ard sitting room the other to sleep in, no matter the number of the family party Sometimes there is a kind of loft over head on the kitchen, where some of the occupants can sleep. Outside there is no pigsty or eowshed or any other office which we are accustomed to connect with the ideas of comfort and decency. In cold and rough weather the pig and even the COW are admitted to the hospi- tality of the hearth, and this accounts for their very friendly and sociable ot,o A e cerned the kelper cannot complain greatly, as 1t is a judicial trint" and he cannot be ejected, no matter how he lives. as long as the rent is paid.
 Sometimes kelper has right to a common adjoining and can run few black faced sheep and some of the black cattle of the country, and whenever he is ill position to save money he prefers to put 1t III stock rather than to commit it to the keeping of q savings bank. Here and there on the island you may chance across a little circle of stone i'll retired nook. You need not puzzle long over it as if it were some archaeological find, for 1t Is simply the foundation of kelp stack that has been piled up inside it, and the calcined appearance of the stones, together with the ashes around them, will immediately reveal its use to you. Far away along the windings of some distant cove you will often see the smoke of these kelp fires rolling heavily out to sea, and the kelp stacks them selves are among the common objects of the seashore, with the long trailing kelp weed dropping down their sides. These have been won with much labor from the deep. and the yearly wage paid to the Mynish islanders by the kelp com