Arctica: Essays Presented to Åke Campbell 1.5.1956

Citation preview

ARCTI CA

Essays presented to

AKE CAMPBELL 1.5.1956

ARCTICA

Essays presented to

AKE CAMPBELL

I. 5. 1956

..rtf•$£>

The present volume has been cdited by

Arne Furumark, Sture Lagercrantz, Israel Ruong, Dag Stromback, and Geo Widengren

It will simultaneously form Vol. XI of

Studia Ethnographica Upsalieusia

Printed in Sweden by ALMQVIST & WIKSELLS BOKTEYCKERI AB UPPSALA 1956

IN HONOUR OF

AKE CAMPBELL ON HIS SIXTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY

MAY i, 1956

Kjell Adamsson

Cammermeyers Boghandel, Oslo

Petrus En vali

Ragna and Olaf Ahlbdck

Egron Campbell

Manne Eriksson

Bcrtil Almgren

Harry Campbell

Nils Eriksson

Almqvist & Wiksells

Sig. E. Campbell

Soren Eriksson

Ulla and Dag Campbell

Sigtird Erixon

Poul Andersen

Maura and James Carney

Albert Eskerod

Efraim Anderssoti

Louise Cederschiold

Kurt Falck

Bengt Anell

Reidar Th. Christiansen

Phebe Fjellstrdm

Ernst Arbtnan

Hans Christiansson

The Folklore of Ireland Society,

Oscar Baeckman

Bjdrn Collinder

Gosta Berg

The Cultural Relations

Edw. Berger

Committee, Dublin

Boktryckeri AB

Dublin Folklivsarkivet, Lund Olof Forsen

Cari Magnus Berger

Tordis Dahllof

Borghild A. Frimannslund

Gosta Bertel

Karl-Hampus Dahlstedt

Rigtnor Frimannslund

Ragnar Bjersby

Bengt Datiielsson

Arne Furumark

Stig Bjorklund

Nils Dencker

Betite and Finn Gad

Otto Blixt

De sju Hciradernas Kulturhisto-

M. Gam

BertiI Boethius

riska Forening, Bords

Ingrid Geijer

Anna-Lisa Borg

Atiders Dios

K. G. Gilstring

Richard Broberg

M. V. Duignan

Olof Gjerdman

Laurits Bodker

Brita Egardt

Gutorm Gjessing

Torsten Bucht

Harry Ely

Gerda and Anders Grape

Erik Bylund

Gerd Enequist

John Granlund V

Nils Lid

Erik Gren

Caoimhm 0 Danachair

Georg Gripenstad

Hjbrdis Lind-Campbell

Oloph Odenius

Eittar Grundstrdm

Erik Litidahl

Elia Odstedt

Harald Grundstrdm

Gdsta Lindeskog

S. 0 Duilearga

Herbert Gustavson

Birger Lindskog

Mlchedl 0 hAodha

Gustav Hasselbrink

Linnar Linnarsson

Andreas Oldeberg

Folke Hedblom

Karl-Olof Litin

Ulf P. Olrog

Gunnar Hedstrom

Oskar Loorits

Waldis and Torsten Ordeus

R. P. G. Hili

A. T. Lucas

S. P. 0 Riorddin

Marta Hoffmann

Erik Lundemark

Sedn 0 Suilleabhdin

Sonja and Lars Magnus Holmback

Bertil Lundman

Robert Paine

Ake Hohnbdck

Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB

Gust. Park

Dagmar Holmkvist

P. E. MacFhinn

Iorwerth C. Peate

Ebba Holmlund

Angus Mclntosh

Ake Hultkrantz

C. I. Maclcan

J. Qvigstad

Humanistiska Biblioteket,

Malmo Museum

J. Raftery

Sverre Marstrander

Albiti Rapp

Stockholms Hogskola

S. Platnge Jacobsoti

Carin Hceggblom

Eva Masreliez

Anna-Birgitta Rooth

Institutet for

Chr. Matras

Andreas Ropeid

Carl-Allan Moberg

The Royal Society of Antiquarios

Folklivsforskning,

Stockholm The Irish Folklore Commission, Dubi in Erkki Itkonen Sam Owen Jansson Ragnar Jirlow Cari Johatissoti Ester Johansson Oscar Johansson Reimer Johansson Bengt R. Jonsson Eva and Bengt Jonzoti

Arne Moden Museet for nordiska fornsaker, Uppsala The National Library of Ireland, Dublin National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh The National Museum of Ireland, Dublin National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Georg Karlsson

Alvar Nelson

Reidar Kjellberg

Linea and Asbjorn Nesheim

of Ireland, Dublin Maja and Israel Ruong Stig Ryden Samernas Folkhdgskola, Jokkmokk Sanakirjasadtid, Helsinki S. F. Sanderson Albert Sandklef De Sandvigske Santlinger, Lillehammer R. U. Sayce School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh University

Tonnes Kleberg

Karl Nickul

Torgny Segerstedt

Knut Kolsrud

Gabriel Nikander

Seminariet for nordisk och jam-

Det Kongelige Bibliotek,

Kristian Nissen

forande Folklivsforskning vid

Nomadskolan, Galli vare

Uppsala Universitet

Kobenhavn Kulturhistoriska Museet, Murberget, Harnbsatid

Nordland Fylkesmuseum, Bodo

Alvar Silow Tryggve Skbld

Ingar and Sture Lagercrantz

Elisabeth and Valter Norcby

Aitia Stenklo

H. A. Lake Barnett

Norrkdpings Museum

Stifts- och Latidsbibliotekct

Cari Johan Lamm

Norsk Folkeminnesamling,

Landsmdlsarkivet, Lund Landsmals- och Folkminnesarkivet, Uppsala

Oslo

i Vasteras Hilmar Stigum

Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo

Nils Strombom

Anna-Maja Nylen

Dag Strdmbdck

Birgit Laquist

Asa and Anders Nyman

Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden

Hugo Leijoti

Cormac 0 Cuileandin

VI

Seura, Helsinki

Einar Olafur Sveinsson

Universitetsbiblioteket, Uppsala

Lennart Wallmark

Svenskt Visarkiv, Stockholm

University College, Dublin

Sigurd Wallin

Sigfrid Svensson

Ingegard Vallin

Lily Weiser-Aall

Mdire Sweeney

Niilo Valonen

V. E. V. Wessman

Torgtiy Save-Soderbergh

Vestfold Fylkesmuseum,

Ernst Westerlund

Erik Te na st r and

Tonsberg

Ian Whitaker de Beauge

Stith Thompson

Kustaa Vilkuna

Ragnar Widen

Nils Tiberg

Varmlands Museum, Karlstad

Geo Widengren

Trondheim Katedralskole

Vdsterbottens Idns

Elis Wikberg

Udvalg for Folkemaal, Kobenhavn Universitetsbiblioteket, Oslo

Hembygdsfdrening, Umed Vdstsvenska Folkminnesarkivet, Goteborg

Herman Wold Abo Stads Historiska Museum Orebro Stads Stadsbibliotek

VII

CONTENTS

What is National Character? Bjdrn Collinder. Irish Farmyard Types. Caoimhm

6

i

Danachair.

6

Wattlc and Straw Mat Doors in Ireland. A. T. Lucas.

16

Fcrtility, Racial Type and Type of Agriculture in Early Modern Sweden. Bertil Lundman .

36

The “Radno” of Lapland. Kustaa Vilkuna.

41

A11 Ancient Type of Sledge in Ullsfjord, Northern Norway. Ashjorn Nesheim.

46

Early Nordic-Arctic Boats. Albert Eskerdd.

57

Changes in a Lappish Community—a Reflection of Political Events and State Attitude. Karl Nickul.

88

Dechning Transhumance as an Index of Culture-Change. Ian Whitaker.

96

Types of Settlement and Types of Husbandry arnong the Lapps in Nothern Sweden. Israel Ruong.105

How Fishermen became Burghers. John Granlund

.133

Ptarmigan Trapping in the Village of Nuorgam in Utsjoki. Niilo Valonen.164 Sonre Eurasian Release Systems. Stare Lagercrantz.175 Muontain-Saamcs (Mountain-Lapps) Fishing at the Sca-Coast in the I7th and i8th Centu¬ ries. Gutorm Gjessing.198 Sarakkagrot-nornegrot-barselgrot-lystenbit. Some Parallels. Harald Gnmdstrdm.203 Two Death Customs in Ireland. Sean O Suilleabhain.208 The Realm of the Dead on the Lappish Magic Drums. Dag Stromback.216 The Ecclesiastic Background to Irish Saga. James Carney.221 Some Remarks on Riding Costume and Articles of Dress among Iranian Peoples in Antiquity. Geo Widengren.228 Publications on the Physical Anthropology of the Lapps. Bertil Lundman.277 A Bibliographical List of Ake Camphelbs Printcd Works. Oloph Odenius.285

t _ 567994

IX

What Is National Character?

BJORN COLLINDER UPPSALA

A Nation has been defined as “a large group of human beings who forni an independent pobtical unity, and are subject to a single supreme Central government; usually occupying a clearly defined geographical area, and further United by an ancient community of race, customs, traditions, and general spirit, and feeling themselves to be a unity” (h. c. wyld). The first part of this definition identifies the nation with the group formed by the citizens of an independent realm or republic; the latter part telis us that there is usually more to it than merely citizenship. The last item seems to imply that in most countries the citizens think that they have, in addition to the common traits enumerated, something in common which they do not share with citizens of any other country. The “feeling” itself would not be different in different coun¬ tries. In each individual, it is the consciousness of belonging to a unit which comprises the same human beings as the political unit called “the nation”, but it has an emotional value of its own, being another aspect of the same entity, associated with certain incentive ideas. Which are these ideas? They are probably reflections on such constituents of national community as are mentioned in the latter part of the definition. Community of race is associated in the consciousness of the in¬ dividual with the interminable chain of descent, and this thought may give him a dizzying impression of belonging to a family of hundreds of millions of blood-relations, even if he should be a childless adopted citizen of the country. Such is the structure of the human mind, rational and irrational at the same time. This feeling of belonging to a unity is a fact in itself. The common race, customs, historical traditions, and the like, may be mere fictions, without detriment to the feeling of unity. The Zionists know this. In newly founded Israel, which is—as has been said—not a melting-pot, but a pressure-cooker, they have a simple criterion to decide who is a Jew, and who is not. Anybody is a Jew, if he pretends to be. There are more comprehensive defmitions, for instance: “[a large group of human beings] with community of descent, bodily structure, character, fatherland, language, culture, religion, judicial System, customs, government and historical traditions” (f. a. von scheele). This is an almost complete enumeration of relevant factors, and if we do not give an exceedingly wide or vague interpretation to the term community, we may say that any large group that has all these charaeI — 567994 A. Campbell

I

tcristics, is a nation. But fathcrland, judicial systcm, govcrnmcnt and historical traditions cannot bc kcpt apart from citizcnship, evcn if thc old Jewish merchant in Sigfrid Siwertz’ novcl “Det stora varuhusct” thought tliat for him the history of Sweden began on thc day when he was shipwrecked at Svenska hogarna. Religion is not important in this conncction, even if there are national churches and national crceds. As to culture, members of the educatcd upper class form a unity ali over thc Western world, whereas they have comparativcly little in common with the proletarians of their rcspective countries, as portrayed in Werner Sombart’s classic “Das Prolctariat”. The “customs” come under the same heading, to a considcrable extent. It will appear, then, that thc second defmition does not differ substantially from the first. Thus, the feeling of having something in common is the same wherever it occurs, and it does not seem to matter much xvhat people think they have in common or whether their opinion is well-founded or not. It is safe to say that the only tliing the citizens of a country must have in common in order to form a nation, is the idea of having something in common that is worth while. This feeling is not different from what members of other human groups fcel for their respectivc community. Such a feeling may be both elevated and strong, because it is nurtured by the instinct for self-prcservation without letting the egotism of the individual come to thc surface; it is sublimatcd sclf-interest. But the instinct for self-preservation does not become active until it is challenged. The challcnge need not appear in the shape of actual overt menaee. A feeling of antagonism will meet the case. And here we are confronted with a rnental trait that seems to distinguish Homo sapiens from all the other animals. Hawks will not pick out hawks’ eyes, and a wolf does not attack a brother-wolf except if he is starved and the smell of blood pricks his nose. If the great plan of Nature implies that Life shall be preserved forever in every single species, then one may feel tempted to regard mankind as an animal species that has gone wrong, forgetful of the eternal commandment of Nature. In all parts of thc animal kingdom the struggle of life seems to be a struggle for thc perseverance of the species. In the community of beasts it is not thc reckless law of bellum omnium in omnes that prevails, but the law of mutual aid.1 Apart from the pairing-time contests, which are rarely fatal, it looks as if only the domestic ani¬ mals, dcgencratcd through the machinations of Man, could be baited to destructive mutual fight. On the other hand, nothing seems to be easier, as far as historical expericnce goes, than to pester groups of human beings to meaningless battles against each other. It seems that most human groups keep together because of their opposition to other groups, and worse than that, it looks as if antagonism wcre regarded as an end in itself or as if it were duc to an instinct. This antagonism commands a whole scale of sentiments, from a chivalrous spirit of emulation to frantic venomous hatred. Sometimes the antagonism is rooted in rivalling interests, but often it floats in the air. The effects of this instinct can be traced even to the innocent plays of the children. In thc school-yards the classical and thc non-classical fight each other. In the encampments infantrymen and troopers manhandle each other to their hearfs content. We meet the same spectacle everywhere and at every epoch: with the Red faction and the Green faction in the antique Circus, with Guelfs and Ghibellines, with Big-endians and Little-endians.2

1

Peter Krapotkin,

Mutual Aid.

2

Jonathan Swift,

Gulliver’s Travels.

The chief stimuli of patriotism are feelings of contrast. One is static: the feeling of superiority towards the neighbours, who are labclled without distinction as “barbars” (barharoi) or “peoples” (,goyim). I once said to a French lady: “You seenr to think that Paris is the Alpha and the Omega of the world.’ And she answered: “But of course it is!” The other stimulus is dynamic: the indignation against aggressors or suppressors. “L'amour sacre de la patrie” gets red-hot only when it is fanned by passionate antagonism: Allons, enfants de la patrie! Le jour de gloire est arrive! Contre nous de la tyrannie

1’etandard sanglant est leve! Entendez-vous dans les campagnes mugir ces feroces soldats? Iis viennent jusque dans nos hras egorger nos fis, nos compagnes.

The Marseillaise was conceived at the frontier, when the fatherland was threatened from within and without. The Star-Spangled Banner, though mirroring a more serene atmosphere, was written within the range of British naval guns. Where neither of these factors is strong enough in itself, they may be supplied by public instruction and patriotic literature. The latter remedy is well known from the reign of Augustus. In the U.S.A. the chief aim of the schools is to create good American citizens. One may say that in its natural state and under normal peaceful conditions, a rural population has no idea of belonging to a nation. Take the inhabitants of the parish of Kokar in the Aland archipelago! They are, since 1809, Swedish-speaking citizens of Finland. But in their own opinion they are neither Finns, nor Swedes, nor Swedish Finlanders, nor Alanders—they are just Kokar people and nothing else. Let us return for a moment to the definition of nation. Is it true that a common judicial system makes for national unity? The answer would he that if all the classes of the population approve of the judicial system, it contributes to national unity, but if it favours one class and the other classes are opposed to it, then it is the other way around. This is what coined, in confornrity to a passage in

Plato’s

Disraeli

had in mind when he

dialogue “The State”, the famous expression “the

two nations”. The study of national character is an undisciplined branch of research. There are so many sources for error in this field that some scholars have been induced to reject the whole notion a limine.1 And yet there is no denying that the average mental attitude is different in different countries. To put it in the nomenclature of the behaviourists, people do not react in the same way to the same stimuli all over the world. The first thing to do in order to get a grip of Proteus-shaped National Character would be to seclude from the notion of nation the notion of national consciousness (German Nationalbeumsst-

1

Hamilton Fyfe, The Illusion of National Character, London, 1940.

3

se in), which we have dcalt with alrcady. And in ordcr to avoid begging thc question (petitio principii), we may substitute regional character for national character and put thc question:

Does the population of a given arca rcact in a certain way to ccrtain stimuli, in contradistinction to the populations of other areas? And if this is so, how should it be cxplained? Nothing has contnbuted more to discredit this branch of research than the doctrine of the superiority of the Nordic racc. Inaugurated by Count Chamberlain

Gobineau,

propagated by

Houston Stuakt

in his book “Die Grundlagen des ncunzehnten Jahrhunderts”, this doctrine was

adopted in a simplified form by Gcrman political writers in the twenties and thirties of this century to ciear thc way for imperialistic ambitions. The Germans may have deserved all the praise these writers spent on them, except the honour of representing the Nordic race. The claim of superiority, unwarrantcd in itself, was unduly vindicated for a population that has only a small share in the vaunted Nordic heritage. The current notion of racc is most useful in dcaling with sub-groups of horses and dogs and other animals, which display a relatively uniform psychical pattern, but it tends to evaporate when applied to the manifold hurnan psychc.1 If the reader objects to the term “psychical” as used in connection with animals, I would like to say that it is impossible to maintain

Descartes’

doctrine that Man has a soul and the animals

are mere machines. One may stick to thc doctrine that Man is a machine, but if we assume that the actions of human beings are rulcd by ideas, it does not make good sense to think that the brain of other mammals, bcing of the same structure as the human brain, should not produce any kind of ideas. If we assume, on the other hand, that our own ideas, thoughts, feelings and volitions are mere epiphenomena without the slightest bearing upon our actions, then we must admit that no argument is conclusive, because we cannot chcck the physical and chemical processes that gave birth to it. Even the argument I am putting forward now must be taken for granted on the general assumption that convincing arguments are always confirmed by experience, although everybody knows that this assumption does not hold good. If the notion of race easily lends itself to abuse when applied to regional character, we ought not to go to the opposite extreme and exclude the biological factors altogether. In contemporary psychology there is a tendency to disregard all innate difierences between human individuals. And yet it is not true, from a qualitative point of view, that all men are born alike. Sonic people have a gift for mathematies, some people can hear absolute musical piteh, some people are excecdingly swift in putting on the brakes.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

thought that Negroes had a remarkably

keen sense for arts and music. Such generalizations may be true or false—but they should not be rejected a priori. The argument that the mental differences between the nations of Europe cannot be due to racial factors because you find the same race components in all the European countries, is not conclusive. Granted that most of the national characteristics are due to milieu and education—the question is whether racial differences play no role at all. Granted that the same races are represented in Nor way and in Rumania—but the proportions are essentially different. 1

Everybody knows, though, that there are marked

individual differences of bchaviour within one and the same race of dogs, and some naturalists think that among

4

ants of a given species certain individuals are distinguished by cleverness and altruism. (G. Adlerz, Myrornas liv.)

There is no doubt that race psychology has much to yield, provided that the research work is done sine ira et studio.1 Another discrediting feature of traditional research on national character is the romantic doctrine of language and nationality, preconized by upheld in our days by

Leo Weisgerber.

Herder,

elaborated by

Wilhelm von Humboldt

and

In its extreme form, this doctrine includes three theses:

1. The ideas, and to some extent even the logic, of each human individual are determined by the vocabulary and the structure of his vernacular. 2. Any language is a crystallization of the mental character of the speaking community. 3. The mental character of the speaking community is an outflow of its racial composition. In this context we cannot dwell upon the fallacies and the inconsistency of the Humboldtian doctrine. Be it enough to say that there is something to it none the less. In politics, foreign and domestic, as in everyday lifc we feel a practical need for sweeping generalizations about our fellow-creatures. It cannot be expected from occasional visitors of foreign countries that they should resist this temptation. And much of the material for research in national character consists of itineraries. Therefore we greet with no small expectations the new school of regional characterology represented by

Ralpii Linton.

The use of questionnaires will mark a new

epoch even in this field. But it should not bc forgotten that the Gallup method has its shortcomings. To some extent it implies that people should analyse themselves, which they are often incapable of doing. If we take patriotism, which is obviously a feature of national character, it can¬ not be doubted that in the late twenties a Gallup inquiry would have yielded the resuit that progressive-minded Oxford university alumns were no good patriots. It turned out ten years later that they did everything that might be expected from fervent patriots, and more than that. As to the factors that determine national character, I must restrict mysclf this time to quoting the following passage from an essay which I published twenty years ago:2 “Without denying the influence which the average inherited somatic characteristics or the surrounding nature or the historical experience may exercize upon the intcllectual and emotional habitus of a people, one is entitled to say that the character of a people usually emanates from a social stratum that sets the fashion, spreading their conceptions and values, the leading ideas. Through education the individual is influenced by these current norms, so that those dispositions which conform to the norms are favoured and cultivated, whilst the reverse dispositions are kept back and repressed. “If research on national character starts from this principle and keeps to it, then it will move alongside with other branches of research that deal with Man as a social being-—mAmxov. 1

It is a pity that there is no English translation of Rolf

Nordenstreng’s Europas manniskoraser och folkslag, 3rd

2 “Folklynnesforskningens

felkallor”, in:

Norrbotten

(Lulea), 1936.

ed., Stockholm, 1926.

5

Irish Farmyard Types

CAOIMHIN 6 D AN AC H AIR DUBLIN

1 he fundamental nced of shelter froni thc elements and protcction during the hours of darkncss is doublcd for the farmer, who must provide shelter and protcction for his livcstock, his gear and his harvestcd crops as well as for himself and his family; thc type of shelter which he provides is influenced not only by his traditional methods of using building materials but also by thc type of husbandry in which he engages, the local conditions of soil and climate, and his own social and economic position in thc community. The climate of Ireland is mild and moist. The average January temperatures range from 40° to 440 F. over the whole country, while those of July range from 570 to 6o°, and the average annual rainfall over five-sixths of the country is from 30 to 50 inches, with from 175 to 250 days on which some rain falis. Heavy snow, great cold or long continued frosts are very exceptional, as are long droughts or great heat. In such a mild climate hay and unthreshed corn may be stored outdoors in ricks or stacks, and this was the usual method of storage in Ireland until quite rccently; it stili is the usual method on many farms. Other crops, such as potatoes and roots, and even grain and apples wcre, in many parts of Ireland, stored outdoors in suitable pits or containers; this, too, is stili often done in the case of potatoes. Consequently storage space for the harvested crops was not the most urgent of the farmcr’s building needs. Again, the mildness of the climate permits the keeping in the open throughout the ycar of certain kinds of livcstock, such as sheep and dry cattle, while on thc other hand milking cows must be kcpt indoors during the winter and early spring. Thus it may be said that, in general, the size and form of an Irish farmyard depends upon the number of milking cows kcpt by the farmer. Although, in Ireland, thc raising of crops, especially of grain crops, was neither small in volume or unimportant in rural cconomy, it was in most times and places sccondary to cattlebreeding, stock-raising and dairying. The evidcncc of archaeology and history rcveals the importance of cattle from a very early date down to our own time; even yet, in many parts of the country a man’s wealth is reckoned not by the size of his farm but by the number of his cattle, and thc area of a farm is commonly reckoned by the number of cattle which it will support—“the grass of ten cows’’ is stili a familiar term. Farms are generally classified as small, medium or large, according to their area. A farm of less

6

than 30 statute acres is regarded as small, one of from 30 to 100 acres as of medium size and one of over 100 acres as large. Small, medium and large farnis may be found in ali parts of Ireland, but in the provinces of Lcinster and Munster and in parts of south cast Connaught there is a preponderance of medium sized farnis with, especially in north Lcinster, a considerablc proportion of large farnis.1 Ali this area practises mixed farming, but the south Western province, Munster, is complctcly dominated by the milking cow, while in Lcinster the northern lialf is mainly devoted to the raising of beef cattle, and the Southern half produces considerable quantities of wheat, oats and barley.2 In most areas of Connaught and Ulster, the Western and northern provinces, the average farni is of small size, and the number of cows kept by each farmer corrcspondingly small; the value and productivity of these small farnis, however, vary greatly from the intensive cultivation of many farnis in east and south Ulster to the fisher-farmer economy of the west Coastal distriets.3 Throughout the provinces of Lcinster and Munster, and in parts of east Connaught, that is to say, gencrally in the area of medium and large farnis, the predominant, and in many distriets exclusive, farmyard type is the courtyard, in which the dwelling house and outhouses are arranged about a rectangular space which is the farmyard proper. Most usually the buildings forni three sides of the yard, with the dwelling house forming one side and the outhouses forming two more, the fourth side being closed by a wall with a gate. Usually the building is not continuous, the elements being separate and connectcd by walls, or having gateways or passages betwecn them. The size and arrangement of the yard and the various buildings vary from one farni to another, and also from district to district; the general type is, however, well established, and conforms to a pattern which is clearly distinguishcd from the other types to bc described later. In many distriets the front of the dwelling house faces the farmyard, thus, in Co. Kildare in 1807: “The farmhouses in general consist of a long thatehed building of one storey, consisting of a large kitehen and fireplace in the centre, and lodging rooms at cither end; the front door looks to the barns and stables on the right, behind which is the haggard, and on the left are placed the cow and bullock houses.” This, written a century and a half ago,4 exactly describes many of the farmyards of to-day, for example that shown in fig. 1, which has the dwelling house in the middle, the cowhouse, calfhouse and a small store (formerly a dairy) 011 the left, with the manurc heap behind them, while on the right are the stable, another store and the pigstye, with the haggard, wherc the hay and corn stacks are made, behind them. The fourth side is formed by a stone wall, with a gate; this wall fronts on the public roadway. This farmyard is at Duncormick, Co. Wexford, in the south east corner of Ireland, but similar examplcs may be found in almost every part of the east and south. Figure 2 shows the buildings on a larger farni, also in Co. Wexford. Here the entrance gate leads in between a cart shed on the right and the dairy 011 the left, with the pump close by. Facing the dwelling house across the yard are the stable and byre and a store, while the corn barn opens into the haggard. The pigsty and manure heap are in the part of the yard most distant from the dwelling house. The openings between the various buildings are closed by stone walls about

1 Agricultural Statistics, 1847-1926. Stationery Office, Dublin, 1930.

1

2 Ibid. 3 Freeman,

Social and Economic Geography, 1950, chapters vni and xviii to XXIII.

T. W.: Ireland, Its Physical, Historical,

Rawson, T. J.: Statistical Survey of the County of

Kildare, 1807, 14-15.

7

[ m. Fig. i. Farmyard at Duncormick, Co. Wexford.

DH, dwelling house; i, byre; 2, calf house; 3, store; 4, manure heap;

5, pigsty; 6, cart house; 7, stable; 8, haggard.

Fig. 2. Farmyard at Kilmore, Co. Wexford.

DH, dwelling house; i, dairy; 2, cart house; 3, coni barn; 4, stable; 5, byre;

6, store; 7, pigsty; 8, manure heap; 9, haggard; 10, pump.

8

m. Fig. 3. Farmyard, Killinny, Co. Galway. DH, dwelling house; 1, dairy; 2, store; 3, byre, 4, stable and carts; 5, manure heap.

Fig. 4. Farmyard at Glenhull, Co. Tyrone. DH, dwelling house; 1, byre; 2, stable; 3, store; 4, haggard; 5, manure heap.

Fig. 5. Farmyard, Athea, Co. Limerick.

DH, dwelling house; 1, pigs; 2, byre; 3, stable; 4, store; 5, manure heap; 6, haggard.

9

Fig. 6. Farmhouse and yard, Kilmore, Co. Wexford (fig. 2). Fig. 7. Farmyard, Killinny, Co. Galway (fig. 3).

Fig. 8. Farm buildings, Glenhull, Co. Tyrone (fig. 4). Fig. 9. Farm buildings, parallel lay-out, Lohar, Co. Kerry.

four feet liigh, with gatcs suitably placcd. A door in the back of thc dwelling housc lcads into a garden and orchard. In both dicse examples thc front of thc dwelling housc is towards thc yard, but in very many examples thc back of thc dwelling housc is towards thc yard, which is rcachcd by a back door, while thc front of thc housc faces a small garden with flowcrs and fruit trees through which a path lcads to the front door. This is especially common in cast Munster. Figurc 3 shows thc buildings on a smallcr farni in thc south-castern part of Co. Galway. Here again wc have a courtyard formed by buildings on three sides and a stone wall with a gate on thc fourth, but thc courtyard is dividcd into two parts by another wall which protects the portion in front of the dwelling house, which is a little garden with flowers and shrubs, from thc animals which pass through thc yard. In thc smallcr farnis of thc north and west there usually are fcwcr buildings, and these are often joincd together in one continuous row, as in thc example shown in figurc 4, 011 a small farni in Co. Tyronc, where dwelling housc, stable, byre and a storc forni one long block of buildings. Here, the elements are clcarly distinguished from each other—thc byre and stable are more roughly built, with poorer roof timbers and thinner walls, than the dwelling house, while the storc at the other end is narrower than the dwelling house and has a lower roof. Indeed most examples of this well-known and widespread type have the dwelling house clearly distinguishable from the outhouses; thus they must not be confused with the “long-house” of Wales, of which the distinctive feature is internal communication bctween the byre and the dwelling.1 In contrast to this, there is no such internal communication in this Irish type, as each house, stable, byre, store and so on has its own entrance door, and very often the dwelling house and byre do not adjoin, but have a stable, store or dairy bctween them. But, as we shall see below, there is—or was until recently—a primitive forni of the “long house” or combined dwelling house and cattle byre to be found in certain parts of Ireland. Another farmyard forni to be found in parts of the north and west, and especially in the hili districts and peninsulas of west Munster, is shown in fig. 5. Here the outhouses are built in one continuous row, and placcd a short distance away from, and parallel to, the dwelling house; the space between the dwelling house and the outhouses serving not only as a yard but also as a passage betwccn the public road and the farmer’s fields; this yard or passage is, in many districts, called thc “street”. In addition to these various farmyard types, there may be found farnis in which the buildings are not arranged in any sct plan, but are scattered about in a haphazard fashion, sometimes without any yard; these occur but rarely in fertile lowlands but are not infrequent in mountain and moorland localities, such as parts of the Kcrry mountains. It cannot be doubtcd that the System of having separate compartments or buildings for thc dif¬ ferent kinds of animals and Stores is of considerable antiquity in Ireland. The law tract Crith Gabh-

lach, written about

a.d.

700, States that thc bo-aire febhsa (a ccrtain grade of land owner) must have,

in addition to his dwelling house and a sharc in a corn-mill, a kiln, a barn, a sheep-fold, a pigsty and a calf-pen.2 Another ancient law tract3 refers to five “houses”, namely, dwelling house, cow1 Peate, I. C.: The Welsh House, 1940, chapter iv. 2 Ancient Laws of Ireland, vol. iv, Dublin, 1879, 309.

12

3 Ancient Laws of Ireland, vol. v, Dublin, 1901, 515.

house, pigsty, calf-pen and sheepfold,

O

and thcrc arc several othcr references in thc ancicnt law tracts to cow-houses and pigstyes. But,

notwithstanding this old and

varied farmyard tradition, it is also quite ciear that there was, up to the beginning of the present century, a widespread custom of keeping the livestock, or part of it, in the dwelling house. There are very many references to this in descriptions of life and conditions in the seventeenth,

eighteenth

1ZZA

and nineteenth

VZZy

centuries. Few, however, give any description of the internal arrangement of the houses, or the reason for the custom, and usually the accounts refer to small houses and a few poor animals. Some

Fig. 10 House at Doolough, Co. Mayo.

observers have mentioned the fear of

bedroom; D, drain; O, drain outlet; K, kitehen; F, fireplace;

wild

beasts

or

robbers.

“They

S, byre.

are

brought in by night for fear of thieves,

A, bed alcove; B,

Fig. 11. House at Srahataggle, Co. Mayo.

A, bed alcove; B,

bedroom; K, kitehen; F, fireplace; X, former byre; Y, filled-in

the Irish using almost no other kind of

drain; Z, screen of canvas 011 woodenframe; N, present byre.

theft, or else for fear of wolves.”1 Here the writer refers to thc bawns attached to the castles, but of course the same risk existed for the small farmer also. Another traveller writes of a night spent in a house in west Co. Galway: “I had just compos’d myselfe to slcepe when I was strangely surprised to heare the cows and sheep ali comeing into my bed chainber. I enquired the meaneing and was told it was to preserve them from the wolfe which everie night was rambling about for prey.”2 Another and much later writer describes a night spent in a small house in the Kerry mountains, near Kenmare: “In the house where I slept—as mdeed in every house of the same character in the county—the whole stock of the family, consisting chiefly of cows and sheep, were locked in at night. Such was the extreme poverty of the people that they would not otherwise be safe. ... There was a slight partition between the room where my bed was and the kitehen where there were three cows, a man, his wife and four children.”3 In many dwelling houses fowl, especially hatching hens, were kept in special coops or boxes, and it was quite usual to have weak or sickly young animals, or calves or lambs which for some reason were separated from their dams, in the kitehen where they had warmth and attention until strong enough to be put with the other animals. In many parts of Ireland the poorest people— 1 Fynes Moryson: Itinerary, 1617.

3 Doheny, M.: The Felon’s Track.

2 Dunton, John: Letter 110. 2 (1699), in MacLysaght,

E.: Irish Life in the Seventeenth Century, 1939, 339. 13

those who had littlc or no land—commonly kept their animals in thc dwclling housc (which oftcn had only one room) at night, a cow or two, or perhaps a donkcy or pony, a pig or a goat and a fcw hcns, thc largcr animals ticd to pcgs or rings sct in thc walls, thc smaller in coops or boxes. In many houses, cvcn large farmhouses, a spccial coop or pcrch was providcd for thc cock, whosc crowing scrvcd to call thc pcoplc of thc housc in thc morning. A vivid dcscription of thc housing conditions of a remote and isolatcd community in the sccond half of thc ninctccnth century is given by

Tomas

O

Crohan,

writing about the Blasket Islands off thc coast of Co. Kcrry in thc

extreme south wcst: “There was a coop beside the partition with hcns in it, and a hatching hen in an old pot ncarby. At night a cow or two, a calf or two, an ass, two dogs ticd to the wall or loose about the housc. ... the two or three dogs would lic at the foot of the bed, the cow or two cows below them, tethered to the wall, the calf or two with the run of the kitehen and their muzzles in the firc. The ass was tied on the side of the house opposite the cows, and a cat with a couple of kittens in the fireplace niche ... And as well as all thc other animals you might find a pet lamb or two about thc house.”1 The custom of bringing the cattle into thc dwclling house for milking during the period of the year when they are kept outdoors, as well as keeping them in the dwelling house during the winter period is recorded from Co. Kerry.2 Indeed it is quite ciear that, throughout the west and north of Ireland, the keeping of livestock in their small dwclling houses by the poorer pcople was quite a common practice up to the last years of the nincteenth century, and in houses from which the animals have long been ejccted we may stili see the rings or pegs to which they used to bc tied. There was, however, one type of house which was built and arranged as a dwelling for both pcople and animals, and which was stili in use in the early years of the present century in parts of Connaught and Ulster, that is, in west Co. Galway, Co. Mayo, west Co. Sligo and wcst and north Co. Donegal. Figure io shows the plan of a typical specimen, atDoolough, Co. Mayo. This house is 12 m long and 5.5 m wide, built of stone and mortar and roofed with straw or grass thateh. It consists of two apartments, thc smaller being a bedroom and the larger a kitchen-livingroomcattle byre; the two apartments separated by the wall of the hearth. On one side of the hearth is a bed alcove. Two Windows, one in each room and both on one side—the front—of the house, give light, and there are two doors, one in the front of the house and one in the back, placed directly opposite each other. On the farther side of thesc doors from the fire an open drain extends from side to side of the house; this drain is about 50 cm wide and 25 cm deep and is lined with flat stones. The space betwecn this drain and the end wall of the housc is the byre, and here, during the winter, three or four cows were kept tethered to the wall. The drain passed under the wall and led to the manure heap outside. Figure 11 shows the manner in which many of these houses were changcd during the last fifty years or so. A byre was built, attached to the house, as here, or quite apart from it. The drain was filled in, and a partition of wood, or, as here of canvas stretehed on a wooden frame, erected to enclosc the former byre which now became a bedroom. In many houses the partition was formed

1

6

Crohan, TomAs: An tOileanach, chapter m.

2 Campbell, Ake: “Irish Fields and Houses”, Bealoideas, v, 68-70.

14

or partly formed by one or more large pieces of furniture, such as a dresser and a cupboard or press. While recorded instances of this type are, as we ha ve seen, confmed to comparatively small areas of the west and north west, there is little doubt that identical or similar forms were once more widespread in Ulster, Connaught and parts of west Munster, where a strong folk-memory of the regular stalling of cattle in the lower end (the end farthest from the fire) of the kitchen stili exists, and where one common house type has the two opposite doors and the lower end cut off by a partition of light material, as in the reconstructed house shown in figure n. In Leinster and east Munster, in contrast to this, there is little or no tradition of cattle in the dwelling houses, and there is here a form of house in which the relative positions of the entrance door, hearth and hearth wall1 would make the bringing of a large animal, such as a cow, into the house very dif— ficult and in many cases quite impossible. A recent article has shown that while the dispersed settlenrent pattern now dominates almost the whole of Ireland, there were formerly, and to a little extent stili are, certain definite areas of village or group settlement type.2 This, however, does not mean that a distinctive type of farmyard pattern is to bc found in such groups or villages; on the contrary, the farmyard type in them is the same as that in the adjoining areas of dispersed settlement. Thus, the groups or villages of east Co. Galway and south Co. Kilkenny are formed of farmyards of the courtyard type, those of west Co. Kerry of the parallel type and those of west Co. Mayo and north and west Co. Donegal of the dwcllmg house-cum-byre type. The middle of the twentieth century sees the Irish farmyard, in common with many other elements of rural life, in a stage of transition. On many farnis new outhouses, especially new cattlebyres, are being built; in others new dwelling houses have been built, and the old dwelling houses refitted as byres, Stores or stables, thus quite changing the aspect of the farmyard. The dwellingcum-byre type of the north west has virtually disappeared, and in a few years will be no more than a memory; the extendcd type, in which dwelling house and outhouses form a long block of buildmgs is also disappearing. 1

(3

Danachair, Caoimhin: “Hearth and Chimney in

the Irish House”, Bealoideas, xvi, 102, 104.

2 Flatres,

P.:

“L’Habitat

Agricole

Agglomere

en

Irlande”, Chronique Geographique des Pays Celtes, 1954, 112-24.

15

Wattle and Straw Mat Doors in Ireland

A. T. LUCAS DUBLIN

In the tourist and topographical litcrature of thc last century relating to Ireland there are references, generally from the more isolatcd or mountainous districts of the country, to the occurrencc on houses of the poorcr type of doors of wattlcwork. Information on this point is richly supplcmented by the archives of the Irish Folklore Commission which record a number of accounts of them from immediate oral tradition, the majority of which, we may assume, relate to the latter half of thc nineteenth century. It is proposed to examine here such data as we have about these doors and to suggest an interpretation of their ancestry. We may begin by presenting the evidcnce about them arranged geographically, including with it references to thc large straw mats which were usually used in conjunction with thc doors and which, on occasion, were used as doors by themselves:— ULSTER

County Armagh Barony of Upper Fews:—

i.

Parish of Killevy:—

“The houses were generally built in ‘clachons’

or clusters and had two doors or entrances which were closed up with bundles of sticks or hurdles, alternately, or as it answered to keep out the wind and rain.” 1838, but referring to earlier times.1

2. “Every house here had two doors one time. ... When the wind was comin’ agin one door they closed it an’ opened the other. But they weren’t doors. They plaited a straw rope an’ pulled whins in an’ out through it.” Recordcd 1948 from informant aged 70.2 Donegal

Cloghaneely District:—

3. “The houses were provided with a wooden door and a small door made of rods. The large door was

was always kept shut. It [i.e. the latter] kept out the hens and ducks and let in enough air and light.” Recorded 1937 from informant aged over 80.

always open except in a storm; and the little door 1

Donaldson,

John.

A

Historical and

Statistical

Account of the Barony of Upper Fews in the County of Armagh, 1838. Dundalk, 1923, p. 17.

16

Translated from the Irish.3 2 3

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1113, p. 453.

i.f.c.,

Ms. 435, p. 197.

4-

"... they made straw shields (sciathogai) which

made for the leeside doorway and a wooden door

they put in the opes instead of doors. These were

for the windward doorway. When the wind changed

about five feet high and about three feet wide. They

the wooden door was hung on the side from which

were made exactly like doors but of willow rods.

the wind blew and the rod shield was put on the

Hinge-hooks of bog-fir were set on one side of the

sheltered side.”

ope which kept the shield firm and prevented it

Recorded 1938 from informant aged 62. Trans¬

falling out. In the night they fixed a stick or two

lated from the Irish.4

against the shield to keep it fast for fear they should suffer any intrusion after going asleep. If it were a

Parish of Inishkeel:—

cold night a couple of good armfuls of heather were

8.

thrown against the bottom of the shield....”

doors for doorways but shields (sgltheannal) in their

“In the time I am talking about there were no

Description of booley huts built for the ac-

stead. A shield which did not contain a large quantity

commodation of girls tending cows on the

of brambles was not correctly made. The reason for

mountains in summer. Recorded c. 1943 from

this was that if an intruder came in the middle of the

Niall 6 Dubhthaigh, born 1874. Translated

night he could not force a shield which contained a

from the Irish.1

lot of brambles. If it did not contain brambles he could break it in.”

Gweedore District:— 5.

Recorded in 1938 from informant aged 84.

“These hen-houses usually have wooden doors

Translated from the Irish.5

now but old people told me that long ago the doors

9.

were chiefly shields (sciathogai) made of rods and

growing up there were no wooden doors at ali.

straw.”

They had a thing which they called a shield (sgith)

“In the old days when my grandfather was

Description of temporary fowl-houses built in

to close the doorway. It was made of rods in the

hilis in summer. Recorded c. 1943 from Niall

following way.”

O Dubhthaigh, born 1874. Translated from the Irish.2

There follows a sketch and a description showing that the frame, which was about 5 ^ feet long and 21 feet wide, was made of four sticks in the

Parish of Templecrone:— 6.

round placed in a rectangle and bound together

“In rny young days the door was not made of

with hempen rope where they crossed at the corners.

wood but of willow rods. One would think nowa-

Longitudinal ribs of stout rods were then tied in

days that that was a queer kind of door but you

position with rope and smaller rods woven in and

can take it from me that in those days a person who

out between thern like a basket (fig. 1). Recorded in 1938 from informant aged 73.®

had one was quite proud of it. It was called a rod shield (sciath shlatach).” It was woven like a basket on a foundation of

10.

“A rod shield was the means he had of closing

the doorway.”

stout rods and measured about 4 feet by 3 feet. A

From a story recorded in 1936. Translated from

sack was hung on it to keep out the wind. Re¬

the Irish.7

corder sketches one he had seen. Parish of Gleticolmcille:—

Recorded in 1938 from informant aged 84. Translated from the Irish.3 7.

11.

“The houses in those days were not half the

“The doors we had then. Two pairs of jambs

size they are now. They had neither doors nor

were inserted [i.e. opposite each other in the long

Windows. There was a strip of sheepskin in the

sides of the house]. A rod shield (sciath shlatach) was

window instead of glass and a thing which they

2

—

1 Bealoideas xrn, p. 135.

5 8.

2 Bealoideas xm, p. 157.

6

i.f.c.,

3

i.f.c.,

Ms. 546, pp. 380-381.

7

i.f.c.,

4

i.f.c.,

Ms. 478,

567994 A. Campbell

p.

Ms. 561, p. 4. Ms. 518, pp. 457-458. Ms. 171, pp. 781-782.

i.f.c.,

300.

17

Figs. 1-4. Types of Wattlc Doors Reconstructed from Sketches and Descriptioris. 1. Parish of Inishkeel, Co. Donegal. 2. Parish of Kilmocomoge, Co. Cork. 3. Parish of Prior, Co. Kerry. 4. Parish of Kilcrohane, Co. Kerry.

18

called a shield (sciath) in the doorway. The shield

made of bog-fir. Then rods of black sally were

resembled a door and was made of straw.”

worked in between the sticks which ran from top to

Recorded in 1938. Translated from the Irish.1

bottom of it [the frame]. The rods were so tightly

“Instead of a door there was a straw shield

woven that they would allow through neither wind

(.sciath chothdin) which was put standing in the door¬

nor rain. A hundred and fifty years ago there was no

way to keep out the wind.”

other kind of door in this place.”

12.

Recorded in 1938. Translated from the Irish.2

An accompanying sketch shows a rectangular frame with three evenly spaced longitudinal ribs

Parish of Killaghtee:— 13.

between which the rods are woven.

“Shield: That was the kind of door which was

Translated from the Irish.3

to be found in the old days. Firstly, the frame was

County Fermanagh 14.

“The inhabitants are poor, and their cabins are

Parish of Derryvullan:—

wretched huts, with a wattled door lined with a

16. “In

straw mat in the inside.” 1812.4

straw ropes.”

15.

“The cottiers who dwell in the more retired

old times the door was made from plaited

Recorded in 1938 from informant aged 92.^

and mountainous parts are poor, and their cabins are wretched huts, with a wattled door and a straw mat on the inside.” 1837. Probably copied from above.5

County Tyrone Ballygawley:— 17. “The

these doors with a substance composed of tenacious

doors of these huts, if doors they can be

clay and cowdung, which renders them impermeable

called, are formed by two perpendicular sticks, and

to the severe winds of winter, or rather helps to

five cross ones, somewhat resembling a gate of rude

make the hut a little less wretched, for the word

workmanship, having the interstices fdled with

comfort cannot with propriety be in any way ap-

ropes made of straw, worked in after the manner

plied to such places.” 1822.7

of a basket. Persons desirous of extra comfort plaster

CONNACHT

County Galway one of them could always be open on the sheltered

Conamara:— do not use the word

side. But as to a regular door, the primitive cabins

in the ordinary sense. Properly speaking, it was a

had none, using a straw mat instead. And what is

mere aperture, of which each house had two; so

very remarkable, considering the wildness of the

that, in the great winds peculiar to this country,

country, this frail defence was quite sufficient at

18. “But

1 2 2 4

when

I

say door,

5

i.f.c.,

Ms. 539, p. 431.

i.f.c.,

Ms. 539, p. 470.

i.f.c.,

Ms. S. 1038, p. 337.

Wakefield, Edward.

I

Lewis,

Samuel.

A Topographical Dictionary of Ire¬

land. London, 1837, vol. T P- 622. An Account

of

Ireland Statis-

tical and Political. London 1812, vol. 2, p. 745.

6 7

i.f.c., Reid,

Ms. 559, p. 338. Thomas. Sketches of Ireland. London 1827,

p. 201.

19

night for the safety of the inmates. House-breaking

heather to put in it at night or a door made of a

was unknown.” 1840.1

mat.

19.

it

Recorded in 1949 from informant aged 77.

“There werc two doorways, but only one door;

Translated from the Irish.6

the aperture to the windward being closed with a

“There werc no doors at all on the houses ex¬

straw mat, against which some rubbish was pilcd

24.

on the outside, so as to exclude the blast; while the

cept bad doors or, perhaps, a mat or a bundle of

door, being suspended loosely on hooks, was made

heather thrown in the doorway.”

to do duty on cither side, according as the wind

Recorded in 1938 from informant aged 72.

changed. This is a contrivance frequently resorted to

Translated from the Irish.7

in Conamara.” 1860.2 Parish of Moyrus:— Inishark and Inishbofin Islands:— 20.

25.

“There was no door in any doorway but . . .

a large straw mat to put in it at night. A stick across

“There was sometimes neither door nor jambs

in these small houses, only a straw mat which was as wide and as high as the doorway.”

from side to side [of the doorway] kept the mat

Recorded in 1945 from informant aged 75.

standing.”

Translated from the Irish.8 “Long ago in this district . . . the houses were

Recorded 1942 from informant aged 73. Trans-

26.

lated from the Irish.3

not very good. Many of them had bad doors and they made straw mats to put on the doors if they were in bad condition or if the boards were split

Inishark:— 21.

There is not a house 011 the island in which

or broken.”

there is not a large straw mat as high as the door¬

Recorded in 1936 from informant aged 67.

way which is put against the back door in winter.

Translated from the Irish.9

If a house has two doors the one facing the wind is shut. Whichever door is shut is called ‘the back

Gorumna and Lettermullan Islands:— “The door is composed of a few rough boards.

door’. The straw mat is put standing against the

27.

back door on the inside and a stick is put across be-

In some cases there is no door, but a straw mat or

tween the two jambs of the door to keep the mat

bundles of furze in a wooden frame takes its place.”

against the door.”

1898.10

Recorded in 1942 from informant aged 50. Parish oj Moycullen:—

Translated from the Irish.4

28.

against the closed door for shelter. These mats were

Inishturk Island (South):— 22.

“They had a large straw mat to put against

made of loops [of straw] woven together and they were large or small as suited the doorway.”

the door.”

Recorded in 1947 from informant aged 77.

Recorded in 1936 from informant aged 82.

Translated from the Irish.11

Translated from the Irish.5 29.

Parisii of Ross:— 23.

1

“There was no door except an armful of

M’Manus,

Rev.

“They had straw mats against the doors to

exclude the wind....”

Henry.

Sketches

of

the Irish High-

lands. London, 1863, p. 38. 2 Duffy’s Hibernian Magazine. Dublin, vol. 1, No. 2, Aug. 1860, p. 77.

20

“In those days they made straw mats to put

Recorded in 1938. Translated from the Irish.12

6

i.f.c.,

7

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1158, p. 278. Ms. 526, p. 122.

8

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1008, p. 443.

9

i.f.c.,

Ms. 160, pp. 363—365.

3

i.f.c.,

Ms. 838, p. 34.

10

P.R.I.A., Vol. 21

4

i.f.c.,

Ms.

11

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1025, p. 164.

5

i.f.c.,

Ms. 271, pp. 88-89.

12

i.f.c.,

Ms. 487, pp. 188-189.

838, p. 154.

(1898-1900),

p.

256.

30.

“A straw mat was made for putting inside the

Recorded in 1937 from informant aged 84.

Street door if the wind was strong against it.”

Translated from the Irish.2

Recorded in 1935 from informant aged 60.

32.

Translated from the Irish.1

at the door and there was a rod door to it.”

"So when I came up to the little hut I knocked From an anecdote recorded in 1937.3

Parish of Beagh:— 31.

Parish of Abbcyknockmoy:—

Description of houses formerly in district: ‘‘A

Describing

evictions

by landlords:— “The

bundle of rods in the form of a door, having the

33.

rods tied together with ropes or straw ropes, was the

poor tenants had only bad houses, with one door

type in those houses. That door was hung 011 hinges

and a straw mat instead of the second door.”

like any other kind of door. You pushed it inwards

Recorded in 1936 from an informant aged 68.

before you as you entered and pulled it after you as

Translated from the Irish.4

you went out.”

County Leitrim 34. “The

Leitrim mountains which

I

crossed in

Parish of Kiltoghert:—

the month of August, 1809, appear to be tolerably

35. Referring

well peopled, but are badly stocked with cattle....

erally built of clay and stones:... a hurdle or flake

The cabin doors were of wattle work, covered in

made of rods for closing the door.” 1831.6

to houses of small farmers: “Gen-

the inside with a straw mat, as in Fermanagh.” 1809.5

County Mayo Parish of Kilcommon:—

38.

Referring to Glenamoy district: “Doors for

Referring to a house in the Mullet district:

sheep pens were made of long coarse heather. The

“Within this habitation consisted of two rooms,

heather was made into mats (maoiseogai) which were

one the gencral receptacle for ali animals that might

placed one above the other in the doorway, the

enter, the other was behind the hob, or fire-place,

mats being tied with straw ropes.”

36.

Recorded in 1939. Translated from the Irish.9

and was divided from the other by a long straw mat that hung from the low ceiling, and served for

Parish of Kilgeever:—

a door_” 1841.7 Referring to houses at Falmore in the Mullet

37.

39.

“I often saw thick straw mats used to put up

in former times: “They had only two doorways

against the back door to keep out the draught.

and instead of doors they had mats (maoiseogai) made

Formerly everyone knew how to plait straw mats.” Recorded in 1932.10

of straw.” Recorded in 1938 from informant aged 74. Translated from the Irish.8

6 First Report Commissioners Poorer Classes Ireland.

1 i.f.c.,

Ms. 177, p. 419.

2

i.f.c.,

Ms. 377, pp. 229-230.

3

i.f.c.,

Ms. 389,

p.

52.

4 i.f.c.,

Ms. 257,

p.

547.

5 Wakefield, Edward.

Parliamentary Papers, vol. 32 (1836), Appendix E, p. 17.

7

Otway,

Rev.

Caesar.

Sketches in Erris and Tyrawly.

Dublin 1841, p. 28. An Account of Ireland Statisti—

cal and Political. London 1812, vol. 2, p. 751.

8 9

i.f.c.,

Ms. 512,

pp.

i.f.c.,

Ms. 743,

p.

10

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1308,

201-202.

408.

p.

329. 21

County Roscommon stuffed with straw and well plaited straw ropes wcrc

Parish of Baslick:— 40. “Something resembling a wattle door or dis—

used as hinges. I remember seeing only one case of

charging the function of a door was used in the

this kind in a bog cabin, when I was a small boy,

cabins of the poor, and in outhouses, sixty or sev-

nearly sixty years ago. I understand some of the

enty years ago. The spaces between the wattles were

wattle doors were quite weatherproof.” 1953.1

County Sligo Lough Gill District:— 41. “In

the doors were of wickerwork; and in a few, con-

several of the cabins visited, the door had

no hinges or fastenings, and was only secured at

sisted of mere straw mats suspended from pegs driven into the wall.” 1835.2

night by having large stones laid against it; in others,

MUNSTER

Not localised:— 42. “There

the purpose, which easily admits of a passage be-

is a door-way, but frequently no door;

hind the scenes—” 1829.3

its place being supplied by a straw-mat platted for

County Clare Parish of Killilagh:—

Parish of Kilballyowen:—

Narrator heard old people say that 100 years

43.

45.

“It took about six sheaves of straw to make a

ago many of the houses had only a bundle of sticks

mat for the door [i.e. to line the door with]. It would

for a door.

take you about two days to put one together. They

Recorded 1938 from informant aged 62.4

were very cosy.” Recorded in 1942 from informant aged 77.

The doors in the old houses were not good

44.

enough to keep out the wind and the weather “but

Translated from the Irish.6

the poor people had a remedy for that for they were Parish ofFeakle:—

always able to put a mat against the closed door.... The mat was as high and as wide as the doorway

46.

and was made to cover that space.”

neither glass nor doors. A sop o’ hay took the place

Recorded in 1942 from informant aged 66.

“I

remember scores of old houses that had

of glass and the doors were made of rods.”

Translated from the Irish.5

Recorded in 1939 from informant aged 80.7

County Cork Barony of West Carhery:— 47. Describing

straw mat, through which I could see the light in a

house of a poor farmer: “The

doorway next the wind was stopped up with a

1 Information from

James

J. 0’Donnell, Castleplun-

kett, Co. Roscommon, 26.11. 1953.

dozen places; the other had a wooden door, . . . .” 1846.8

4 I.F.C.,

Ms. 519, pp. 108-109.

6 I.F.C.,

Ms. 842, pp. 341-342.

The Miseries and Beauties of Ire-

6 I.F.C.,

Ms. 861, p. 1074.

land. London, 1837, vol. 1, p. 339. Further:— First Report

7 I.F.C.,

Ms. 642,

Commissioners

8

2

Binns, Jonathan.

Poorer

Classes Ireland.

Parliamentary

Papers, vol. 32 (1836), Appendix E, p. 41. 3

Bicheno,

p. 30. 22

J. E. Ireland and Its Economy. London 1830,

pp.

275-276.

Foster, Thomas Campbell.

Lettcrs 011 the Condition

of the People of Ireland. London, 1846, pp. 432-433.

Parish of Kilmocomoge:— 48. ‘The

Parish of Ballyvourney:—

sgurtog was the door they had on the old

“Scolpan: a half-door made of rods. It was the

49.

houses. It was made of rods, two strong sticks and

only kind in the old days but they had full doors

two ‘gads’ between them and more sticks stuck

made of wood.”

down through the ‘gads’ and then it was woven

Recorded in 1943 from informant aged 72.

with rods. They used to have it 011 the inside and

Translated from the Irish.2

push it out in the doorway at night. You’d see them

50.

in cowhouses yet around here.” The informant’s

at ali but I know that they were there—doors made

wife called it a scolpan instead of sgurtog. (Fig. 2.)

of twigs, just as you would make a basket. They were

Recorded in 1941 from informant aged 70.1

“I do not remember the wattle doors (scolpain)

in existence before people made wooden doors.” Recorded in 1943 from informant aged 64.3

County Kerry Between Tarbert and Kerry Head:—• ‘‘Their cabins are built of stone without ce¬

51.

door but a kind of hurdle with heather or long grass woven among the sticks.” 1836.8

rnent, and the doors are of wickerwork.” 1812.4 5 Parish oj Ballincuslane:— Wattle doors called scolpain.

52.

Parish oj Prior:— They were made

“with a framework of bogdeal and woven with sally.” Sketch.

56.

“A straw mat on the inside of the door. My

aunt in Coomavanniha had one but I never saw it. I heard my mother speak about it: a straw mat

Recorded in 1937 from informant aged 74.®

on the inside of the door: there was cosiness for I5>

you!

Parish oj Dunquin:—

Recorded in 1952 from informant aged 58.

Explanation of word scolpan occurring in a

53.

Translated from the Irish.9

folk-tale: “The scolpan was a thing fastened with small ropes made of branches or bushes or fern....”

Describing the sod-wall houses formerly in the

57.

district: “Hurdles made of twigs and rods were the

Used as door. Recorded in 1936 from informant aged 69.

kind of doors which were put on it.” Recorded in 1946 from informant aged 85.

Translated from the Irish.6

Translated from the Irish.10

Explanation of kind of door called a braca

54.

“I

remember myself when there was no wood¬

(harrow). “They were called brdcai because they

58.

were made of branches of furze, one branch across

en door on any outhouse.” Rod doors (sculpdin)

another as sketched.”

Sketch shows rectangular

used. Description States that each door had three

frame laced with branches of furze in herring-bone

cross-bars: one at top and bottom and one in the

fashion.

centre, the ends of the bars fitting into holes made

Recorded in 1937 from informant aged 72.

in the jamb walls to receive them. The cross-bars

Translated from the Irish.7

held together a screen of willow rods placed vertically side by side and bound to them by cord of

Barony of Iveragh:

horse- or cowhair. Sketch given (fig. 3).

“Many of the worst cabins have no wooden

55.

Recorded in 1952 from informant aged 58.11

1

i.f.c.,

Ms. 778,

p.

537.

7

2

i.f.c.,

Ms. 937,

p.

35.

8 First Report Commissioners Poorer Classes Ireland.

3

i.f.c.,

Ms. 912, pp. 312-313.

4

Wakefield, Edward.

An Account of Ireland Statis-

tical and Political. London 1812, vol. 2, p. 763. 5

i.f.c.,

Ms. 469,

p.

296.

6

i.f.c.,

Ms. 256,

p.

159.

i.f.c.,

Ms. 469, p. 239.

Parliamentary Papers, vol. 32 (1836), Appendix E, p. 58.

9 10 11

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1224, p. 481.

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1001, p. 286.

i.f.c., Ms.

1224,

pp.

477-481.

23

the doorway] and two holes in the wall into which

Parish of Dromod:—

the ends [of the bar] were entered.” 59. Description of a wattle door (scolpan). “The

Recorded in 1942 from informant agcd 74.

door consisted of four [supcrimposed] hurdles. The

Translated from the Irish.1

innermost was made of rods: it had ribs and the Parish of Kilcrohane:—

rods were woven as in a basket and it was square

Description

of

house

occurring

in

story:

in shape like the frame [of the door]. There were

60.

three others outside that with three sticks tied [trans-

“There were no doors 011 the cabin except a hurdle

versely] with withies 011 thcm. They [the hurdles]

made of sticks from the wood. It was callcd a

were fixed to each other . . . and the four were

scolpan.” Recorded in 1935. Translated from the Irish.2

fixed so tightly togethcr that a person would find

Description of the houses in the townland of

it very difficult to pull them apart.... The innermost

61.

one, which was made like a basket, was plastered

Tooreens in former times: “The doors were made

with yellow clay and no wind could penetrate it

of a hurdle woven from rods.”

then. There was a [separate] cross bar to put across

Recorded in 1941 from informant aged 60.

the middle of the door [when it was in position in

Translated from the Irish.3

County Limerick had done in the county of Kcrry, and

Their doors with padlocks, Windows, cradles, beds,

elsewhere, I found, in the county of Limerick, the

chairs, etc., etc. are, in general, all of wicker-work.”

common people extremely fond of wicker-work.

1813.4

62. “As I

It will bc observed from these citations that evidence for the existence of doors of this type in nineteenth-century Ireland comes from every county of the Western seaboard: Cork, Kcrry, Lim¬ erick, Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Lcitrim and Donegal and from the counties of Roscommon, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh as well (fig. 9). In assessing the former distribution of the type from the tourist literature and the records of the Irish Folklore Commission it must be borne in mind that both these sources tend to be deficient for certain areas. The early tourists followed wellbeaten tracks along the more picturesque Coastal regions while the Commission’s most intensive work has been carried out in the Western half of the country, particularly in the Irish-speaking districts where tradition and the traditional pattern of life have remaincd strongest. The consequence is that in this, as in many other aspects of traditional culture, we lack data from the whole Central area of the country. Moreover, the references to their existence by tourists and topographcrs are necessarily capricious and sporadic and it is suggestive that every district which has been intensively investigated by the Commission has produccd evidence of thcm. The area where we find them must, accordingly, be regardcd as a minimum, there being every reason to believe that proof of their wider extension would be forthcoming were our sources fuller. The construction of the door, to judge by the rather perfunctory dcscriptions which have come down to us, seems to vary in detail from place to place, especially during the latter part of our pcriod. There is, howevcr, one fundamental kind which appcars everywhcre: that made of wattles or basketry (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 31, 32, 34, 35, 40, 41, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61,

24

1 i.f.c.,

Ms. 862, pp. 442-443.

2 i.f.c.,

Ms. 146,

3 i.f.c.,

Ms. 777, pp. 429-430.

p.

284.

4

Hall,

Rev.

1813, vol. 1,

p.

James.

277.

Tour through Ireland. London,

62).1 It is noteworthy that this is the type which is mentioned in most o£ the earlier accounts (1, 14, 15, 34, 35, 41, 51, 62) where it is usually described as “wicker” or “wickerwork”. Wickerwork is a thing of very characteristic appcarance and it would have been much more familiar to the average well-to-do tourist of the early nineteenth century than it would be to persons of the same social standing today. We may takc it, therefore, that when such persons said “wickerwork” they meant wickerwork and that they would not have so described the ropeand-bush doors at Killevy, Co. Armagh (2) or the furze ones at Dunquin, Co. Kerry (54). Reid, for instance, does not apply the term to the doors which he saw at Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone (17) although he telis us that “the interstices were filled with ropes of straw, workcd in after the manner of a basket”. The method of making, what we may call, the classic type of this door has been preserved in a number of reasonably cxplicit accounts (6, 9, 13,

Fig. 5. Straw Mat used with Wattle Door. Portacloy, Co. Mayo. (National Museum of Ireland.)

48, 59). Four stout sticks in the round or lengths of bog timber were made into a rectangular frame the size of the door ope, the pieces being lashed together at the angles with rope of hemp or straw and, sometimes, most probably, withies were used for the purpose as well. An account from Kilmocomoge Parish, Co. Cork (48) describes a procedure in which only two timbers—those forming the vertical sides—were used in the construction of the frame, the cross members at top and bottom consisting of ropes of twisted withies or “gads” (fig. 2). When the frame had been completed a suitable number of longitudinal ribs of thick rods spaced across the width of the door was tied in place to the cross pieces at top and bottom. In the Kilmocomoge door, above, however, such tying was unnecessary since the ribs were held in position by having their ends passed through the gads. By using the vertical sides of the door and these ribs as a warp the door was completed by having a weft of small rods woven

1 The numbers in brackets refer to the examples in the topographical list. 25

transversely across them over its whole length (fig. i). Every effort was made to keep tliis wcft as close as possible smee it is stated, with some exaggeration, fromKillaghteeParisii, Co. Donegal, that “the rods were so tightly woven that they would allow through neither wind nor rain” (13). In a few instanccs it is said that this door was hung on hinges (4, 31, 40) after the manner of an orthodox wooden door, even if these hinges were only made of plaited straw rope (40). On the other hand, it seems much more likely that in the majority of cases the door was not a fixture at ali but that it was put into and lifted out of the ope as required as was the practice in Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal (12). Normally, the doorway would Fig. 6. Brushwood Door (Scolpan)

KerrY-

011

Cowshed

at

Tooreens, Co.

have been lcft

open

dunng the day

and when, at night, it was closed with the wicker door the latter would have

been kept in place by a wooden bar across its centre the ends of which fitted into slots in the jamb walls, as in the case of the straw mat door in the Inishark and Inishbofm Islands, Co. Galway (20). It is obvious that, no matter how well made, a wicker door could never be windproof and to render it so a large straw mat the size of the door ope was always used inconjunction with it (fig. 5). In some cases this mat may have been fixed to the door itself as a liner (14, 15). So mounted it would have functioned most effectively although, sometimes, liable to be sodden by rain beating against the door. In most instances, however, we do not know how the mat was used, whether applied to the door, suspended independently behind it or propped standing against it, although from isolated accounts we can gather that all three methods were in use. If we regard the wicker door with its straw mat liner as the original type we can trace a number of departures from this orthodox form, some of which appear to have been brought about by the cxigencies of environment or by worscned economic circumstances, some by local experiment and some by decay of the traditional procedure. The most remarkable of these is the dis— appcarance of the wicker door itself, the straw mat alone discharging all the functions formerly fulfilled by both together. This is recorded, doubtfully, from Donegal (11, 12) and Fcrmanagh (16) and, certainly, from Galway (18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 33),Mayo (37), Sligo (41), Cork (47) and Munster in general (42). When the mat was used alone it was, sometimes, hung on hooks, as in 26

Conamara (19), or pegs, as in thc Lough pr*

y

Gill District, Co. Sligo (41), or by some means not specified, as in Munster (42); and sometimes it was held in a standing

’

.-

.

"/•.

M'?:■

"**

-i

c-

v>V

position by a cross-bar, as in Inishark and Inishbofin, Co. Galway (20). It is possible that the absence of the wicker door in some or all of these localities may simply be due to the lack of supplies of willow or hazel rods to make it. A curious half-way stage towards modern conditions appears in the use of a normal wooden door in one ope and a straw mat in the other. It should be explained that in many regions of the west of the country the house is providcd with a doorway in each of the long sides, the doors being opposite each other, and that on the sheltered side kept more or less permanently open during the day, while that 011 the windy side is kept

Fig. 7. Brushwood Door (Scolpan) from Tooreens, Co. Kerry:

closed. In those cases where a wooden

Side View.

door was hung on one ope and a straw mat on the other, the former was used on the side facing the wind and the latter on the sheltered side. Sin ce the wooden door was hung on hook-hinges it was readily removable and the two doors could be changed about as the wind dictated. This practice has bcen recorded from Templecrone Parish, Co. Donegal (7) and from Conamara, Co. Galway (19). It is also interesting to note that even after the introduction of wooden doors the tradition of the use of the straw mats persisted. They were used to provide extra comfort by the exclusion of draughts and were, therefore, used on the windward door particularly. This late use of them has bcen recorded from the following counties: Galway (21, 26, 28, 29, 30), Mayo (39), Clare (44, 45) and Kerry (56). Another line of development of the wicker door and its straw mat liner resulted in the combination of the two to form a single whole sharing the characteristics of botli: the rigidity of the wicker door and windproof nature of the straw mat. This was achieved by making thc frame after the usual fashion but using straw rope for the weft instead of rods. An early instance of this technique is to be seen in Reid’s description of the doors at Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone, 1822 (17), and a later example in the account from Killevy Parish, Co. Armagh (2), recorded in 1948. The same type is, probably, to be seen in the fowl-house doors at Gweedore, Co. Donegal (5), while the wattle door with the interstices stufted with straw from Baslick Parish, Co. Roscommon (40) and the one from Iveragh Barony, Co. Kerry (55) having long grass woven among the sticks are other variants of the same thing. 27

The tradition of the wicker door itself seems to ha ve lingered on down almost to thc prescnt day in two distinet forms. One of these was the wickcr half-door mentioncd in the account from Cloghancely Parish, Co. Donegal (3). In many parts of Ireland the traditional house has its main doorway equipped with two doors, an inner full-sizc door which is normally kcpt open during the day and an outcr door, half thc height of thc inner one, which is kept inore or less pcrmanently elosed and which excludes ground draughts, keeps out straying fowl and domestic animals, con¬ fines young children within doors while, at thc same time, the open upper space supplcmcnts the functions of the Windows in admitting light and air. Bcsides the Donegal example, half-doors of wickcrwork have also becn recorded from Ballyvourney Parish, Co. Cork (49), and from Co. Armagh1 and were, doubtless, common enough elsewhere but, having been mistaken for impromptu makeshifts, escaped mention in our sources. The second form of thc final phase of thc tradition of the wattle door is a rough screen of branches, with or without a frame, which was chiefly used on sheds and outhouses in sonte of the more isolated districts until comparatively recent times. Recorded examples come from Killevy Parish, Co. Armagh (2), where branches of whins (furze) were held together by a straw rope; from the Glenamoy district, Co.Mayo (38), where mats of heather tied with straw rope were used; from Gorumna and Lettcrmullan Islands, Co. Galway (27), where bundles of furze were held together in a wooden frame; and from Dunquin Parish, Co. Kerry, where one account mentions “bushes or fern” (53) and another “branches of furze” (54) which a supplementary sketeh shows laced in herring-bone fashion in a wooden frame. In thc Barony of Iveragh, Co. Kerry, we find two late forms which are considerably less rough-and-rcady than any of thosejust mentioncd and which seem closer in type to the original wattle door. One, from Prior Parish, used on outhouses, has already been describcd in outline (58) (fig. 3). The other is from Kilcrohane Parish and, in August, 1955, the writer saw and recorded the making of a specimen which is, probably, thc last door of this kind to be made in the country. It was made for use in a cowshcd by Sean Fitzgerald who is also one of the very few men lcft who can stili make thc bog-fir ropes which were formerly so extensively used in rural Ireland. It closely resembled the Prior example and consisted of a mat of birch branches fastened together by four paired cross-pieces of timber, one pair near the top, the other near the bottom (fig. 6 & 4). The cross-pieces were made by splitting two lengths of ash branch in the round, about 3 feet long and 3 inches in diameter, into longitudinal halves. One length of this was placed on the ground and the birch branches spread across it in a layer, butts chiefly to one end, twigs to the other, the butt-ends forming the lower edge of the door, since they made a firmer and more substantial basc on which to stand it. The branches were tightly ropcd to the cross-piece at a distance of about a foot-and-a-half from the lower edge of the door. A second cross-piece was then fixed across the door at a distance of a foot-and-a-half from what was judged would be its upper edge. The door was then turned upside down and the remaining two timbers fixed across it opposite their fellows to which they were fastened by ropes passing round their ends (fig. 7). The lower edge was then trimmed to a straight line by chopping the butt-ends of the branches with a hatehet and the door was placed standing in the ope to ascertain the corrcct height of thc upper edge. This

1 28

Information from T. G. F.

Paterson,

Curator, County Muscum, Armagh,

1955.

having bcen markcd, the upper edge was trimnaed with the hatchet to that level and the door was then ready for use. It was placed standing in the ope from the outside and held by a bar of wood across its centre the ends of which fitted into slots in the wall. The Irish term for this rude door was scolpdn, which was the name used in the district for the wattle doors proper when they were in use there. We ha ve now seen something of the distribution and variations of this peculiar type of primi¬ tive door in nineteenth century Ireland. Among the rack-rented tenantry of the mismanaged estates in the most depresscd districts of the country and among the miserable population of evicted families who had settled as squatters on bogs and commons we find even cruder substitutes for doors: baskets and bundles of straw, rushes or heather but these we may certainly dismiss as expedients forced upon the people by abject poverty and disregard as unrepresentative of any tradition. Are we to regard the wicker doors as similar expedients to be similarly dismissed? In the first place their wide distribution at once suggests that we cannot (fig. 9). They extend along the whole west and north of the country and, as we have already stated, there is reason to believe that their extension may have been much greater. Even as it is, however, it is large enough to suggest that they have their roots in a widespread tradition. In the second place they do not stand alone as the only instances of the use of wattlework in the nineteenth century traditional house. The large chimney hoods built over the fireplace were commonly made of a timber frame the spaces of which were filled with wattlework heavily plastered on both faces with clay. It is interesting to note that, as in the case of the wicker doors, straw rope or sugdn was sometimes substituted for the wattling, and plastered with clay in a similar fashion, the rope itself, in addition, being occasionally dipped in puddled clay before bcing woven into place.1 In some districts this hood was borne on a large beant running across the room from wall to wall and the spaces to each side of the chimney, between the beant and the end wall, were frequently formed into two diminutive lofts, little more than large shelves in size, which were used for the storage of various household articlcs. The floors of these lofts were often fornted of wattlework. A nrore definitely structural use of wattling appears in its use for partition walls of houses and examples of this have been recorded from a number of places, e. g.:—“Another method of building the ‘mud-wall’ was used in some parts of this area. A frantework of wattles was made and on both sides of this the clay was plastered in layers, each layer being allowed to dry before the next was applied. Straw was cut into short lengths and ntixed with the clay.” Parish of Donagh, Co. Monaghan. Recorded 1946.2 “Another house was made with an insertion in the walls of thin posts placed fairly near each other and interlaced with hay ropes....” Bawnboy and Ballyconnell District, Co. Cavan. Recorded 1946.3 “It is divided by a hurdle into two rooms.” Description of a typical house in the Barony of Trughanacmy, Co. Kerry, 1836.4

1 6

Danachair, Caoimhin.

2

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1076, p. I37a.

3

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077, p. 232.

Bealoideas xvi, p. 99.

4 First Report Commissioners Poorer Classes Ireland. Parliamentary Papers, vol. 32 (1836), Appendix E, p. 59.

29

Taking our cvidcncc on this point back to an earlier date wc find that Madden, writing in 1738, rclates:— “And yet to our Shame wc must confess that in Irelaud our Tenants (I speak of the poorest and greatest Part of them) have rather Hutts than Houscs, and those of our Cottcrs are built, like Birds’ Nests, of Dirt wrought together and a few Sticks and some Straw, and like them, are generally remov’d once a Ycar, and consequently as migratory, and not so durable, as the Carts and Waggons of the wandering Tartars.”1

The impermanence of the humbler kind of Irish dwellings which is alluded to here is a charactcristic which is adverted to rcpeatedly by English writers of this and somewhat earlier times to whom the native houses appeared flimsy and makeshift in comparison with the substantially built structures of the English settlcrs.2 The basis of their criticism will become ciear in the light of the cvidcncc to bc presently cited. Moffet, in his anti-Irish burlcsquc pocm, “The Irisli Hudibras”, published in 1728, describes an Irish house as having the walls “with cow dung plaister’d round” and alludes to the “crannies” in them through which the smoke emerged. This can only mean that the walls were of wattlework plastcred, according to the traditional formula, with a mixture of clay and cowdung.3 In 1705 the Irish Parliament, to secure the planting and preservation of timber trees and woods, passed an act which, because “great quantities of young trees are daily destroyed by the making of gadds and wyths”, forbade persons to use “in wattling the walls of houses or cabbins, or outbuildings, any kind of gadd or gadds, wyth or wyths, of oak, ash, birch, hazel or other tree whatsoever. ...”4 Dunton, in 1698, dcscribing the house of a small farmer which he visited in Co. Kildare, speaks of “a room which was divided by a wattled partition plastered with clay from the room we were in. It had a wattled door which was not impervious to Argus eyes. ...”3 More informative stili is the same writer’s description of the house of “one OTlaghertie the most considerable man in this territorye” (i.e. wcst Galway) as “a long cabbin, the walls of hurdles plaister’d with cow dung and clay”.6 Head, in 1674, complains that in Irish houses: “The smoke goes through no particular place, but breaks through every part between the rods or wattles of which they make their doors, sides, and roof of the house,....”7 An anonymous writer, in 1673, States:— “But that which has hitherto, and, I doubt, will ever hereafter be a blcmish to the flourishing state of Ireland in point of Building, is the great number of Nasty-Smoaky-Cabins every where, made up of Wattles, without

1 Madden, Samuel.

Reflections and Rcsolutions Proper

for the Gentlemen of Ireland. Dublin 1738, pp. 34-35. 2 e.g. Cal. Carew Spencer, Edmund.

Manuscripts,

1589-1600, p. 208.

A View of the State of Ireland in the

Yeare 1596. Reprinted Dublin, 1809, p. 134. Patrick.

The Tribune, No.

xvii,

Delany,

Rev.

p. 122. Dublin. Reprinted

in London, 1729. 3 Moffet,

William.

Letters. In Irish Life in the Seven-

5 Dunton, John.

teenth Century by

Edward MacLysaght.

Cork, 1950,

Appendix B, p. 358. 6 Dunton, John, 7 Head,

1674. The Irish Hudibras. Originally

published 1728. London 1755, pp. 5-6.

30

4 4 Anne. Cap. 9. Section ix.

ibid.,

Richard.

j.c.h.a.s. x,

p. 335.

The Western Wonder. London,

2nd series, 1904,

pp.

92-94.

Fig. 8. Engraving of Irish Labourer’s House, 1836, showing “Hurdle” used as a Door. (From The Reformer by James Connery.

London & Dublin, 1836, frontispiece.)

any Chimnies, wherein the poorer sort of Irish do [d]well, which camiot altogether be ascribed to their meer poverty, and antient custom; but rather much more to the uncertainty of the tenure whereby they hold the same, being Tenants only but from May to May, so that they may more easily quit their Station, and try their fortunes else where for another year, though many times to as little effect, in case they find themselves overmuch opprest by their Landlords.”1

Sir John Harington, in 1642, describing the escape of Rory Og

0’Moore from a night attack

on the house 111 the Leix-Offaly district where he lay, stated that the house was “made of nothing but hardels and durt’’.2 Although these quotations are hostile in tone and denigrating in intent it is evident from them that in the period from the middle of the seventeenth century to the opening decades of the eighteenth we have already reached a time when a type of house with plastered wattle walls was widespread in many places in the country. That it was built according to the post-and-wattle technique cannot be doubted. Ali the evidence points to this as being the dominant type in pre-Norman times and it is, doubtless, this which, in Pynnar’s survey of the Ulster Plantation in 1618, is called an “Irish” house3 in contrast to the “cagework” or framed house erected by many of the British

1 The Present State of Ireland: together With Some Remarques Upon

the Antient

State

thereof. London,

1673, pp. 103-104.

3 Pynnar, Nicholas. Survey of Ulster. pp. 76, 77, 80, 81, 103, 108, 132. In Hibernica by Walter Harris, Dublin 1747.

2 Harington, Sir John. Orlando Furioso. 1634, p. 94.

31

scttlers1 and which, in a document dealing with dic progrcss of thc same Plantation in Co. Fcrmanagh in 1611, is similarly contrastcd with “English” houses.2 Indeed, reminiscences of thc tcchniquc survivcd mto much later times. Its usc for interior partitions has alrcady bcen mentioned but wc fmd some elcments of it in thc construction of the outer walls also.

Dutton,

in 1824,

writing of cottagcs in Co. Galway, States: “they put uprights of wood in building the wall, on which the raftcrs rest, instead of a wall piate; they are generally about six feet asunder.”3 Sampson,

Vaughan-

in 1802, notes the sanie construction in Myroe, Co. Derry,4 while in the archivcs of

thc Irish Folklorc Commission it has bcen rccorded from Cloonc Parish, Co. Leitrim;5 Scrabby Parish, Co. Cavan;6 Kells7 and Kcllystown8 districts, Co. Mcath; Castletowndclvin,9 Killua10 and Ballymore11 Parishes, Co. Westmeath; and Geashill,12 Monasteroris13 and Clonniacnoise14 Parishes, Co. Offaly. In these cases tenipered clay or sods took the place of the curtaining of plastered wattle which would, in earlier times, have fillcd the spaces between thc posts. I11 this connection we may recall that from Ballygawlcy, Co. Tyrone (17), and Dromod, Co. Kerry (59), wc have two instances of daub bcing applied to wattle doors. It can hardly have been a very succcssful or a very permanent expedient but, howcver mistaken in application, it very clearly embodies thc recollection of an ancient practice. As has been said, there is a gcneral consensus of opinion that the post-and-wattle building was the normal type of dwelling house in prc-Norman Ireland, both thc literary and archaeological evidcnce pointing to that conclusion,15 although it is probable that there wcre some inhabited districts where, 011 account of a local scarcity of timber, other materials were used. From this ancient period there are at least two references which secm to indicate definitely thc usc of wattle doors. They occur in the law tract called Crlth Gabhlack the redaction of which dates to thc opening years of the eighth century. The first is found in a description of tech n-inchis, which “was a residcnce erected for a stranger in kin who undertook thc maintenance of an aged freeholder, whosc surviving relatives were either unable or unwilling to per forni this duty”.16 Al¬ though thc description is brief and not easy to follow it obviously refers to a wattled house. For our present purpose, howcver, its chief interest lies in thc statement which says: da (n)dorus (n-)and —conila(c) ar ala n-ai, cliath ar alailiu: “two doorways in it—a door (comlae) to one of them, a hurdle (cliath) to the other.”17 There can be hardly any doubt that the cliath is a wattle door. Com¬ lae, on the other hand, is the gcneral word for the valve of a door but, in this contcxt, it is so

1 ibid., pp. 79, 85, 87-88, 88, 98, 106, 110,112, 120, 121, 123, 124.

Ms. 1077, p. 267.

11 i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077, p. 280.

2 Cal. Carew Manuscripts, 1603-1624, p. 94.

12 i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077, p. 289.

3

13 i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077,

14 i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077, p. 284.

Dutton, Hely. A Statistical and Agricultural Survey

of the County of Galway. Dublin, 1824, p. 343.

4

Sampson, Rev. G. Vaughan. A Statistical Survey of

the County of Londonderry. Dublin, 1802, p. 300.

16

e.g.

p.

Richmond, I.

(1932), pp. 96-106.

287. A. Journal of Roman Studies,

Graham,

Angus. p.s.a.s.,

xxii

85 (1950-

5 i.f.c., Ms. 1076, p. 83 a.

1951), pp. 74-79. 0’Curry,

6

toms of the Ancient Irish. London, 1873, vol. 3, pp. 1-57.

i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077, p. 236.

7 i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077, p. 294.

8 An examplc recorded by C.

16 Binchy,

(3

Danachair,

Folklore Commission and writer in 1951. 9 i.f.c.,

32

10 i.f.c.,

Ms. 1077, p. 266.

Irish

Eugene.

Manners and Cus-

D. A., Crith Gablach. Dublin, 1941, pp.

27-28. 17 ibid., p. 4, lines 100-101.

Fig. 9. Map Showing Distribution of Wattle and Straw Mat Doors. 3

— 567994

A.

Campbell

curiously contrastcd with cliath that it must mean a door of somc othcr kind, most probably a woodcn one. It may bc that in thc eighth ccntury, as in Conamara (19) and Doncgal (7) in thc ninctccnth, a woodcn door was used on thc windward side of thc house and a wattlc onc on thc shcltered side. The sccond rcfcrcncc occurs in an enumeration of thc pcnalties for injuring thc property of a person of thc boaire reire breithe grade: Cbic seoit i ndul tria thech tria Has, di brisiud a chomlad; dartaid i jieisc tis, colpdach i fleisc tuas, samaisc i cleith tls, colpdach i cleith tuas: “Five ‘seds’ in liability for going through his house or his enclosure by brcaking his door; a male ycarling calf in liability for an under rod, a ycarling calf for an upper rod, a two year old heifer for an under wattlc, a ycarling calf for an upper wattlc.”1 As far as can bc ascertaincd from their usc in othcr contexts, flesc and cliath are intcrchangable, both words connoting a slendcr rod, although cliath has, both in ancient and modern usage, also thc meaning of hurdle. In the context above sonie technical distinction is evidcntly intended betwecn them and to indicate that diffcrcnce thc former has here becn rendered by “rod” and thc latter by “wattlc”, although what that distinc¬ tion may have implied it is now impossible to know. 0’Curry suggests that the rod (flesc) was a withy, presumably loopcd, used to fasten the door at top and bottom and that the wattlc (cliath) was a bar used as an alternative method of securing it above and below.2 The brcaking of these could, howcver, hardly bc construcd as brcaking thc door (cotulae) and it seems much more probable that both the rod (flesc) amd wattlc (cliath) wcrc intcgral parts of thc door itsclf in which case the door must have becn a wattlcd construction analogous to, or identical with, the types which we have been considering. We are now in a position to see the wattle doors which excitcd the curiosity of the travellers of the nineteenth ccntury in their historical perspectivc. The ancient Irish house was a wattlcd structure with, as we should expeet, a wattle door. This type of house continued in use through medieval times down to the sixteenth century, when the climination of the great woods which formerly covercd an enormous area of the country becamc a considcred part of thc English government’s policy for the conquest of the country.3 Their destruction was deemcd imperative, not mercly becausc they gave shelter to the Irish rebels as far as their persons wcre concerned, but also becausc they afforded them safe harbours and winter pasturage for their cattle in the clearings.4 Bcsidcs the crude method of mere felling their end was hastened by thc export of timber both in a raw state for shipbuilding and in a manufactured state as pipe or barrel staves, but, most of ali, by the setting up of a large number of iron works to firc which immense quantities of timber had to be converted into charcoal.5 As timber for house building bccame less and less available the people were compelled to turn more and more to substitute materials, as clay, stone or sods, for their walls, although, as we have seen, wattle houses did survive, in some districts, at least, down to the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the cighteenth century. Already, however, the exploitation of the sub-fossil timber of the post glacial forests of pine and oak buried

1 ibid., pp. 8-9, lines 213-216. 2 0’Curry, Eugene, op. cit., p. 27.

3 e.g. Cal. Carew Manuscripts 1575-1588, p. 416. 4 e.g. Cal. State Papers Ireland, 1596-1597, p. 448. ibid., 1599-1600, pp. 69-70, 74. Cal. Carew Manuscripts, 1601-

34

1603, p. 113. Moryson, Fynes. An Itinerary. Glasgow, 1907, vol. 2, p. 421. 6 0’Brien, George. The Economic History of Ireland in the Seventeenth Century. London & Dublin, 1919, PP- 43-47-

in the peat bogs had begun and this was to remain almost the only source of timber for the population of a large area of the country for the next hundred and fifty years and more.1 It was not particularly suitable for wattlework and the preparation of it in sufficient quantity for watthng house walls would have been a very laborious task and we find, in consequence, that, with the exception of the few vestigial features we have already described, wattlework had disappeared from the Irish house by the nineteenth century. Enough willow or hazel rods, however, were usually available to allow the continued use of this ancient door and its survival was prolongcd in the more economically backward districts by the bare level of subsistence to which the rapidly expandmg population was reduced which deprived thern both of the incentive and the means of obtaining supplies of sawn timber for the manufacture of normal wooden doors. With the gradual improvement of conditions in the latter half of the century the use of this door on dwelling houses was finally abandoned but it lingered on for sheds and outhouses in a few isolated places almost to our own day.2

ABBREVIATIONS i. f.c. p.k.i.a. j. c.h.a.s. p.s.a.s.

Irish Folklore Commission. Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy. Journal of Cork Historical & Archaeological Society. Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Dublin, Conn 0 Cleirigh, University College, Dublin,

1 Lucas, A. T. Bealoideas xxm.

2

The writer would like to thank Professor S.

0

Dui-

Rev. Professor F. Shaw, S. J., University College, Dublin,

learga, Hon. Director, Irish Folklore Commission, for

for valuable help in the linguistic aspects of the Old Irish

facilities for research; Sean 0 Suelleabhain, Archivist of

Texts; and Miss A. R. Birmingham, Assistant Secretary,

the Commission, for much assistance from time to time;

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, for the prepara¬

Professor Myles Dillon, Institute for Advanced Studies,

tion of the manuscript.

35

Fertility, Racial Type and Type of Agricultore in Early Modera. Sweden

BERTIL LUNDMAN U PP SALA

As early as in the 1890’s the well-kiiown statistician G.

Sundbarg

(1892) found in the demogra-

phic geography of our country certain significant and over the centuries surprisingly great contrasts concerning, amongst other things, fertility in marriage. Hc treated this point more closely in his work of 1910 (pp. 4-9) where he mentioned “a certain racial difference” and illustrated the wholc subject with a map. I11 his doctor’s dissertation 1912 (p. 519) N.

Wohlin

considered the

cause of these contrasts to lie in “probable racial peculiarities”—after having more or less dismissed the thought that lay closest at hand, namely that differences in the structure of agriculturc were the sole explanation (ibid.). I.

Flodstrom,

who was

Sundbarg’s

intimate friend, close contcmpo-

rary and, to a certain extent, his disciple, treated the question in an important survey in Ymer 1915. This survey contained numerous tables and a map showing the frequency of legitimate births in every jurisdictional district in Sweden between the years 1891 and 1900 (calculated per 1000 married women aged 15-45). It also took up the question of race in a prcliminary way. In 1918

Flodstrom

once more took the opportunity of treating that subject, now in the symposium

Sveriges Folk edited by himself and unique in many respeets. Amongst other things he published long excerpts from

Furst

and

Retzius’

tables in Anthropologica Succica 1902, which surprisingly

showcd similar geographical contrasts for several (other) racial characteristics. More and more Flodstrom’s

interest shiftcd to the purely anthropological aspect. After his retirement in 1921 he

obtaincd generous grants from official funds, which enabled him, amongst other things, to de¬ vote his unflagging energy to more detailed analyses of

Furst

and

Retzius’

original material. His

failing hcalth did not, however, permit him to complete more than two private publications of purely anthropological interest. in this way the whole question had, in the present author’s opinion, gradually been sidctracked. In spite of the certainly rather surprising anthropometric-demographic corrclations which led to its being subjccted to purely anthropological, nay anthropometrie analysis, the search should primarily have been directcd to fmding economic-demographic correlations. In his own way Wohlin

(1912 p. 519) recognised this, though he did not stress it sufhciently and in the summing-

up more or less restricted himself to the race-biological line. The work of these scicntists did, however, yield the following permanent results. Since at least 36

/

the middle of the i8th century and up to the

derangement

of rural

demography

through emigration to the United States, and later general depopulation, contraceptives etc., our country consisted of three main regions of fertility more or less alike also where certain other demographic characteristics were concerned: the south-western region with relatively high fertility, the south-eastern region including Lower Norrland with relatively low fertility, and the Upper Norrland region with very high fertility (ali legitimate). Undoubtedly this contrast dates back a good deal farther than the eighteenth cen¬ tury, and it would certainly be worth while to test

Wohlin’s

fairly self-evident asser-

tion, which unfortunately hc practically retracted later on, that it was connected with the agricultural structure of the country. It goes without saying that in areas where the holdings could easily be divided up owing to relatively little cultivation etc. more children were tolerated, indeed wished for, than in places where such was not the case.

Map 1. The Swedish portion of the Central Scandinavian sociogeographical province. 1. At least about a quarter of corn harvested in the peace years 1550-63 and 1571-77 to cow or heifer

Thus sparce and widely scattered settle-

(not oxen), 1571. 2. Mean legitimate fertility under the Swedish

ments with predominantly pastoral produc-

mean in the years 1750 towards the end of the I9th century.

tion must favour an increase in population,

3. Swedish-Danish (Norwegian) frontier in the i6th century.

whereas old established villages with intensive cultivation and little cultivable outlying land must curb the process. Especially with the methods formerly used it was, to put it briefly, much more difficult quickly to get a large new field ready in one autumn than to put a few more cows to pasture in the forest. A number of years ago, when engaged in making a suitable anthropological classification of Sweden, I tried to find an acceptable agronomical correlation with the fertility regions by comparison with ali sorts of maps published by others or drawn by me accordmg to published sources. (My field being predominantly anthropological I could hardly go further.) The only map that offered any convincing support was one of certain conditions regarding cultivation and stockraising during the decades after the middle of the sixteenth century. The figures were taken from Forsell’s

works (see References). Unfortunately the only adequate inventory of cattle (cows,

heifers, not oxen) is for the year 1571, which stili feli within a miserable post-war period. Concerning the production of crops, which naturally was subject to annual fluctuations within the 37

various harvests and which was evcn more seriously afFectcd by the ravages of the Scven Years’ War in Sweden, I was, howcvcr, able to obtain a satisfactory average for most areas for ali the peace years of 1550 to 1563 (the Russian war in the 1550’s had no significance) and for 1771 to 1777. Here we meet almost cxactly the sainc contrast as in legitimate fertility. The badly preserved material for Narke is the only instance where division into jurisdictional districts is unfortunately impossible. The connection between Tjust and Ostergotland is not too ciear cithcr; that outer Roslagen naturally had less grain than cattle is merely a local exception and of little significance to us. The rclatively strong development of crop cultivation in Lower Norrland as far as Mcdelpad is ali the more remarkable, however. Unfortunately no material is availablc for the contemporary Danish (and Norwegian) provinces. Of interest in this connection is the low legitimate fertility, at least in the years around 1860, in Trondelagen, Romsdal as far as Northern Sondmore and parts of Helgeland as describcd by

Flodstrom

in Ymer 1915. During the Middlc Ages one

of Norway’s granaries used to lie in this region (sce e. g.

Hasund

1933, pp. 206, 204). In Jamt-

land, in 1571 Danish-Norwegian, but from 1645 a Swedish province, the fertility in older Swedish times was very low. Around the Oslofjord grain cultivation was at that time about equally good and legitimate fertility was high, at least in about 1860. The belt of low legitimate fertility across Central Scandinavia is thus obviously of carly origin and on the whole coincides with certain old grain-growing settlements. It seems reasonable to assume that the traditions concerning agricultural methods, the size of holdings and fainilies were dictatcd by the prosperous and powerful Central settlements, primarily those in the valley of the Malarcn and secondarily those in Trondelagcn. That is as far as we can go. Detailed and rclatively long and expensive investigations would no doubt throw more light on these highly interesting socio-economic and socio-biological conditions. Regarding agriculture we therefore eagerly await T.

Lagerstedt’s

doctor’s dissertation, expected to appear in 1956,

which promises to be a brilliant and epoch-making contribution to the subject. The connections with purely anthropological racial characteristics are indisputable as such but neverthcless most curious (see cal explanation offered by

Flodstrom

Flodstrom

1918,

Lundman

1940, 1946). Since the anthropologi¬

and partly also by his above-mentioncd contemporaries is

based on a hasty, nay probably an absolutely faulty interpretation, these facts must be regarded as an indirect association of culture (agriculture and sexual habits) and hereditary traits (in the sense of anthropological types) enforccd by a common history. There is of course always the possibility that the anthropological differenccs are secondary results of this fertility which is somewhat variable through the centuries and which, by a slight diffcrcnce in selection could perhaps, to sonie degree, alter the type in the long run. But the most pervading differences seem to lie in the shades of colour of the eyes (and perhaps the hair), which cannot be explained in this way, as they do not appear to be in any way connected with other vital physical characteristics. Concerning wcight and proportions of the body we fmd in the valley of the Malaren and Os¬ tergotland a shorter and somewhat squatter type, in Trondelagen and Southern Norrland a robust, very tali but fairly slim type, and in Southern and Western Gotaland a fairly tali and even slim38

mer type. In the last-mentioned region, and nowhere else in the sanie way, we moreover see these traits more strongly developed in the poorer, pastoral highland areas than in the fertile plains. (Cf. Campbell’s

epoch-making division of Skane in his doctor’s dissertation of

1929.)

Ali these dif—

ferences are so great that they cannot primarily be due to directly individual environmental influences on the subjects investigated but must be of a hereditary, racial nature. (So far I support Flodstrom

et al.) In contrast to the qualities previously discussed, these last-named differences do

not coincide very well with the dcmographic ones, however. Perhaps the former at any rate may be the resuit of selection through environment. At ali events a squatter type with a broad and strong back was of course desirable in regions where ploughing was difficult, while a slimmer person fitted well in the movable forest environments. Nor is it impossible that the “forest type” got somewhat rougher further North owing to the fact that the climate was more severe and that, as we have seen, agriculture was fairly well developed. In the South-West the winters were milder and agriculture mainly pastoral in the highlands. In the plains the type was somewhat rougher also in south-western Gotaland. In any case, these constitutionally different types cannot in themselves have a different degree of fertihty, at least not in

Flodstrom’s

sense.

My pupil Lars Beckman has begun a study of the blood group distribution in Sweden, based upon a very great material, which probably will yield further interesting results concerning these anthropological differences.

Much of what has been said is of course conjecture, but it agrees quite well with the very original theories presented by my pupil H.

Pohlhausen

in his doctor’s dissertation of

1954,

Das

Wanderhirtentum und seine Vorstufen. While these theories in part go back to older scientists (F.

Kern

and predecessors),

Pohlhausen’s

way of presenting them is a good deal more convinc-

ing, has a better biological basis, and is more complete. To return to our subject, it remains to be pointed out that it seems to be impossible to co-ordinate all the agrarian, dcmographic and anthropological differences. Some of them may be correlated, however, and after detailed, specialized research surer results ought to be obtained. Within other Sciences, too, more or less similar limits are indicated, but actually only concering Gotaland and Southern Svealand. The latest and quite easily accessiblc summaries will be found in works by the expert on language, culture and religion, geographer,

Erixon,

and the geographer,

says published by the present author in tion.

(Lundberg

Bergsten,

1946

Lundberg,

the ethnologist and cultural

all of which are listed below. The two es-

and cited below are also of interest in this connec-

and the author have abundant bibliographical references.) It is somewhat more

far-fetehed, though apparently not altogether impossible, to extend the comparisons to include natural geographical aspects, especially vegetation, possibly geology and perhaps even medicine. Regarding medicine see

Lundman 1951

(cited below), with a short bibliography. Such compari¬

sons are hardly valid outside Gotaland, however. The above-nrentioned essays by

Lundman

(in Baltoskandia) and

Erixon

(cited below) touch on

just these aspects belonging to the more purely natural Sciences. Finally the author cannot but stress the simply amazing coincidence between the formation of the dwarf rnosses on

Waldheim’s

map (cited below), which are apparently extremely good indicators of different physical and chemical soil qualities, and the village boundaries presented by

Campbell

in the work cited be39

low, whose shapc of coursc primarily depcnds on partly thc same basic factors. (Compare fig. 44, p. 191, in

Weimark

with map 4, p. 279, in

Campbell).

Here is another example of die intuitive

insight of thc scholar whose name we honour today.

REFERENCES Bergsten, K. E.: Sydsvenska fodelsefalt. Lund 1951. Campbell,

A.:

Skanska bygder under forra halften av

1700-talet. Uppsala 1928. (Diss. Lund 1929.) Erixon,

S.: Svenska kulturgranser och kulturprovinser

(Kungliga Gustaf-Adolfs Akademins smaskrifter, Nr 1.) Stockholm 1945. Flodstrom, I.: Till fragan om rasskillnader inom Sveriges

befolkning. (Ymer 35, 1915:213-266.) Stockholm. — Sveriges folk (sid. 47-82). Uppsala 1918. — Skilda antropologiska typer inom Sveriges landsbygdsbefolkning, hiirads-(tingslags-)vis. Preliminar oversikt (i utdrag). (Enskilt meddelande.) Lund 1926. — Sveriges antropologiska huvudomraden omkring 1850. Typewritten manuscript, dated 14.10. 1927. — Den aktcnskapliga fruktsamheten i Sverige. (Ekonomisk Tidskrift, 29, 1927, pp. 205-248.) Forssell, H.: Sverige 1571. Stockholm 1872-1883.

— Anteckningar om Sveriges jordbruksnaring i sextonde seklet. Vitterhets, historie- och antiqvitetsakademiens Handlingar 29. Stockholm 1884. Hasund S.: Korndyrkninga i Noreg i eldre tid (in: Bidrag

til Bondesamfundets historie, I. Oslo 1933.) Kern, F.: Stammbaum und Artbild der Deutschen und

ihrer Verwandten. Miinchen 1927. Lundberg, O.:

Oslo 1942.

40

Sverige, Nordisk kultur 26, pp. 41-58.

Lundman, B.: Nordens rastyper. Geografi och historia.

Stockholm 1940. — Raser och folkstockar i Baltoskandia. En oversikt. Uppsala och Tierp 1946. — Hastar och dragoxar i Nordostra Ostergotland. Ymer 66, 1946. Stockholm. — Sveriges antropologi under de bada sista artusendena (Finsk tidskrift 149, 1951). — Psykofysisk konstitution och rehgionsgeografi (Svensk geografisk arsbok 27, 1951). Pohlhausen, H.: Das Wanderhirtentum und scine Vor-

stufen. Braunschweig 1954. (Diss. Stockholms Hogskola 1954.) Sundbarg, G.: Sveriges officiella befolkningsstatistik for

ar 1890. Bihang. Stockholm 1892. — Bygdestatistik

(Emigrationsutredningen,

V.)

Stock¬

holm 1910. Waldheim,

S.: Kleinmoosgesellschaften und Bodenver-

haltnisse in Schonen. Botaniska Notiser, Lund. Suppi. Vol. 1:1, 1947. (Diss. Lund I948(?).) Wohlin, N.: Den Svenska jordstyckningspohtiken i de

i8:de och I9:de arhundradena jamte en ofversikt af jordstyckningens inverkan pa bondeklassens besutenhetsforhallanden. Stockholm 1912 (Diss. Stockholms Hogskola 1912).

The “Radno” of Lapland

KUSTAA VILKUNA HELSINKI

ihe most famous and apparently most ancient textile of the Lapps, besides their ribbons, is the radno (Inari Lappish ratnu, Skolt Lappish rann), a thick woolen bedspread, which in earlier times had served as the cover of their native teepee-like kotas, as a blanket, even as a sail. In a damp climate a woolen fabric is much superior to a hide. Not a single sure instance of a Lapp kota having been made of hides is known; the wooden skeleton has been covered with either turf or radnos. If a hide gets wet, the hair falis out; on the other hand, a woolen fabric is not rendered less effec¬ tive by dampness, for it retains warmth even when wet and after drying is as good as ever. For this reason, the mountain Lapps, in particular, who are often obliged to move from place to place and to piteh camp in unsheltered feli terrain, have long used woolen covers over their kotas. Also in more permanent dwellings the radno has been an essential household item, as a sleeping blanket— with a hide as underbedding. The Lapp radno is made entirely of the wool of the native sheep. The warp-thread is spun on a distaff, thin and strong; whereas the woof is thick but loosely spun, so that the cloth as a whole is remarkably thick and soft, like felt. The weaving used to be done on a vertical loom, working from top to bottom. Such looms were last used by the Skolt Lapps at Suonikyla1 and the sea Lapps of Manndalen, or Olbomavagga (Lyngen), in Norway. Lapp women appear to have achieved singular skill in the weaving of such radnos, which is evidenced by the fact that as late as the sixteenth century they were sought after by tax collectors.2 Furthermore, we know that Lapp radnos were sold and exchanged at fairs, with tradesmen3 from the south on the receiving end, and that these textiles were widely known beyond the

1 In the autumn of 1955 the Picture Bureau of the

in the province of Finnmark

(Oscar Albert Johansen,

University of HelsinJci produced a film on the spinning

Finmarkens politiske historie. Videnskapsselskapets Skrif-

of the threads and the weaving of the cloth. A report on

ter, n, Hist. filos. Klasse, 1922, Kristiania, 1923, pp. 259-

the work appeared in Kotiseutu, 1956, pp. 3-8. On the

261; T. I.

older history and the technique, see

haan [Taxation and Trade in Lapland in Early Times],

terstorff,

Emelie von Wal-

En vavstol och en varpa, Fataburen, 1928,

Itkonen,

Lapin verotus ja kauppa ennen van-

Suomen Museo L, 1943, Helsinki, p. 18). 3 e.

g.

Samuli

Paulaharju,

Vanhaa Lappia ja Pera-

pp. 143-1572 e. g., in 1553 the Birkarlar tax collectors of the prov-

Pohjaa (Old Lapland and the Far North), Helsinki, 1923,

ince of Vesterbotten collected thirteen radnos from sea Lapps

p. 79. Tradesmen in Tomio had Lapp radnos in stock as

41

boundarics of Lapland on into the cighteenth ccntury under the names of Lapprana, Lapinraanu and meriraanu (sea-raanu).1 Sincc textiles are by no means characteristic of the dwelling and clothing culture of the Lapps— even their shirts werc made of reindeer skin in certain localities up to recently—there is rcason to ask where and when they had lcarned the art of weaving useful radnos. The best guidc in this respect is the Lappish word radno. What is its relation to Finnish raanu, Swedish krati, rana, and Norwegian gren ? The word raanu is met with, according to the data collected by the Sanakirjasdatio (Finnish Dictionary Foundation), in ali the Finnish dialects throughout the country. It usually stands for a thick, coarse cover, woven like a rug out of wool yarn or, even more usually, rags. Such rcctangular covers have becn used as sheets over straw mattresses or as bedspreads, as horse-blankcts, to wrap around the legs of a sleigh driver, to be thrown over loads for protection and for other temporary purposes. The word raanu has also been met with in East Karelia (Rukajarvi, Uhtua, Vuokkiniemi), where it means either a coarse bedspread or a door-mat woven of rags. Onlv in a few Central Ostrobothnian communes does the word mean an ornamental bedspread, calied elsewhere in Western Finland tapeetti, vdskddtti or silmikko. In Central Finland raanu may also mean the woolen fabric over a lining of fleeee used as a blankct in winter. As this fabric is often beautifully ornamented, the word has evidcntly been carried over from this to signify also a tapeetti bedspread or wall decoration. This meaning for raanu has of late decades become general in the literary language of Finland. It should be further noted that in the old dialects of frontier Karelia ruanu means an everyday skirt of coarse weave. Among the various meanings of the word raanu in Finland, ‘a thick bedspread of wool or hair’ is the primary one and the others secondary. Rag carpcts belong to a period when thin textiles were produced in abundance. In form raanu, as a noun ending in -u, is a typical loan word of Scandinavian origin. The form of the original could be2 rana, krana or grana. In Swedish dialects the forms rana and kran are met with, and accordingly numerous earlier investigators assumcd that the Finnish word had been borrowcd from Swedcn.2 However, if we carefully study the spread of the words rana, rano and kran in Sweden, we find that all three are from areas that border on communities where Finnish or Lappish is spoken:

Wessman

knows

the word rano (‘losvar pa mobler’, ‘lostacke pa sang’) from the Swedish dialects of the northern-

latc as 1752. Cf.

ibid., p. 54. The designation

ylle Rana 1799 Korkalo Rovaniemi. (Perunkirjoitukset from

meriraanu (sea-radno) was used by the Finns of Vesterbot-

the judicial districts of Oulu, Kemi and Tornio deposited

ten to mean a radno purchased in Finnmark.

in the State Archives in Helsinki (303:1, 106, 238, 304:489,

Itkonen,

1 Such radnos are mentioned in inventories of dcceascd persons’ estates from the Oulu and Kemi regions dating back to the 1700’s. Following is a list of raanus in which the color or some

132:113, 119, 40:19, 171).) 2 T.

E.

Karsten,

Finnar och germancr, Folkmalsstu-

dicr, x, Hclsingfors (Flelsinki), 1944, p. 420; E. N. Setaia,

Bibi. Verz. Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen,

xiii,

Anz.,

other special quality is made evident: 2 lappranor 1735

Helsinki, 1912, p. 90; Y. H.

Liminka, 4 lappranor 1749 Kempele Oulu (Uleaborg), 1

huomioita (Etymological Observations), Virittaja, 1928,

hwit lapprana, 1 blarandig lapprana, 2 randiga 1769 Liminka,

p. 113; K. B.

en Lappmarks weepe eller raana 1780 Rovaniemi, en randig

Helsinki, 1890, pp. 104 and 184; id., Laut und Formlchre

lapprana 1797 Paakkola Kemi, 1 svartrandig lappsker rana, 1

der lulelappischen Dialekte, pp. 98 and 178.

lappskcr rana af ull 1797 Hirmula Kemi, 1 witbottnig Lapps

42

Wiklund,

Toivonen,

Etymologisia

Lule-Lappisches Worterbuch,

most of the Swedish-language communes of Central Ostrobothnia (Karleby, Kronoby, Ncdcrvetil),1 where the natives use many loan words from Finnish.

Rietz

points to Vasterbotten2 and

Kalix, a commune that once had been partly bi-lingual. In the collections of the Landsmalsarkivet in Uppsala, there are data concerning the word only from northern Sweden, either in the form rana (ronan, Tore, Ncderkalix) or kran. Correspondingly, the word rana is met with in the Finnish dialects of nearby areas (Gellivara, etc.), which indicates that the Swcdish noun is a loan from the Finnish dialects of Norrbotten. The meanings, moreovcr, are the sanie. On the other hand, the word kran (‘sangtacke’ Pitca, kraeati ‘filt av renhar’ Ranea) cannot have been borrowed from Finnish, bccause in the Finnish language double consonants nevcr occur at the beginning of a word. But the word from Pitea is an unmistakable loan from Southern Lappish dialects, in which it appears in the fornis krano, grano or rano. Only in the language of the Lapps can such a treatment of initial consonants come into question. We must takc gr- as the original forni, from which, phonetically, we can arrive at the forms krano and rano. In the Swedish language there is never confusion between gr- and kr-, while in Finnish there is a phonetic compulsion to retain only the last of initial consonants. J.

Qvistad

briefly noted as early as 1881 and 1893 that the Lappish radno, etc., was a loan from

the Norwegian gren, etc., which thesis he presented again in 1945.3 Recently (1954) the relation between these words was dealt with in detail by

Asbjorn Nesheim.4

I11 the Norwegian dialects

there are words like graena, graen, grein, grenja, grenje, gren, etc., which chiefly mean a thick, coarse bedspread woven in the sanie way as the Lapp radno5 or, like a Finnish raanu, also of rags. Evidcntly these Norwegian dialect words have a conimon root, although the relation between them has not yet been satisfactorily explained, as etymology presented by

Alf Torp,

Nesheim

remarks.

Nesheim

docs not agree with the

according to which grenja is to be associatcd with Norwegian

gron ‘mule’ and old Norse grQn ‘mundskjegg’, the original meaning having been ‘skjegget, d. e. flosset’; as another possibility, he suggests that graena, etc., have the sanie root as the verb grina ‘to grin’. Accordingly, the assumed Germanic root forni would be grina, in which case the Lapp word would be a relatively late loan, dating back to the close of the mcdieval era, from the northern Norwegian dialects.

Nesheim

supports his thesis with the argument e.g. that the word graen

in Norwegian also has the meaning ‘streak, stripe’ (according to

Aasen,

‘en tynd Sky, lange og

tynde Skystriber’). Nesheim

is right at least in two respects: in the dialects of Southern Lapland, rano [grano, krano)

may be a late loan from Norwegian dialects, which is indicated by the double consonant at the beginning of the word, met with in certain localities, as well as by the fact that the old meaning of graen also apparently included “stripe”. The last-mentioned fact may be inferred from the word

1 V. E. V.

Wessman,

Samling och ord ur ostersvenska

folkmal, Helsingfors (Helsinki), 1932, s.v. rana. 2 J. E. 3 J.

Rietz,

Svenskt dialektlexicon, Lund, 1867, p. 542 a.

Qvistad,

Nordische Lehnworter

p. 252; id., Dopplekonsonanten

i

forlyd

im i

Lappischen.

lappesk, Studia

4 Asbjorn

Nesheim,

Den saniiske grenevevingen og

dens terininologi, Scandinavica et fenno-ugrica,

Studier

tilliignade Bjorn Collinder, Uppsala, 1954, pp. 332-335. 5 The more

precise meanings

given by

Nesheim,

p.

333-

septentrionalia, Part n, 1945, p. 201.

43

raanu, also meaning, in certain Finnish dialects, a stripc in a fabric. For instancc, in the collcctions of thc Sanakirjasaatio, raanu occasionally stands for ‘a scction of different color in a cloth’ (Ulvila), ‘the black edge of a fmgemail’ (Aura); raanullinen (adj.), or ‘banded, striped’ (Valkcala). To ali evidenccs, thc piece of fabric known as graena raanu was striped in the past, as it stili is today. The warp has been gray cxclusively, but thc wcft has altcrnated between black and white or colorcd threads. The wide distribution of the word raanu and its varying meanings in the dialects of Finland and Karelia indicate that it could not have been borrowed from the Lapps but that it is an ancient loan from Scandinavia. On the other hand, the forms radno and rann used by thc Lapps of Finnmark, Inari and the Kola peninsula could have been borrowed from the Finns. This would have been natural, not only from thc standpoint of the general trend of linguistic borrowings, but also in view of the fact that a number of other terms conncctcd with raanu weaving in the dialects of eastern Lapland are direct borrowings or translation loans from Finnish. Thus, the name of the whole weaving apparatus in thc West is suopponstuolet, formed in accordance with the Norwegian word rennestol—the first part is a translation and the fmal part a direct loan; but alongside it and cxclusively farther east one runs across such terms for the loom as radno-muorat, rdnna-muora, etc., where the latter part always is muora (pl. muorat), as in the corresponding Finnish word kangaspuut (Lappish tnuor rat=Finnish p«Ht=harncss). Likcwise, such a small detail as a pair of threads in the same heddle accords in the dialects of eastern Lapland with the Finnish expression, vuobbeslaie, i.e. ‘sister threads’, while in Norwegian they are ‘brothers’. There are numerous other terms in thc eastern Lappish dialects modeled on Finnish words, such as sielgimuorra (Finnish selkdpuu ‘backboard’), kuarve (F. korva ‘ear’), juonna (F. juoni ‘striped pattem’), etc. In addition, there are old indigenous words and even some borrowed from Old Norse directly, not through Finnish. The latter occur especially in Southern Lapland.1 Thus, it appears that the Lapps of Finnmark, Inari and Kola, in whose languages there is an abundance of Finnish loanwords of various ages, reccived the raanu and the technique of weaving, together with the paraphernalia, from the Fmns, who in turn had in prehistorie times borrowed the term raanu and, perhaps, also the style of weaving this type of fabric from their Norse neighbours. Howevcr, the borrowing process had not stopped there, for the Southern Lapps of Sweden and the Lapps of the Western coast of Norway subsequently received a loan on a higher stage of development: the vertical loom known from Manndal is conspicuously more advanced than the loom known to be used by the Skolt Lapps to the east. In harmony with this phenomenon is also the phonology of the word radno: in the east the older loan-form prevails, in the west a younger. This suggests that the Lapps had come to know the raanu and the vertical loom even before real contact between them and the old Norse people began, i.e. before the ninth century. Finnish relations with the Scandinavians have apparcntly been maintained constantly during the whole period the Finns have inhabited Finland. Part of the Old Norse loan words met with in the Lappish dia¬ lects may have been transmitted via the Finnish language. Only the horizontal loom is known from Finland, and it appears to have spread at a relatively

1 For more detailed treatment, see Asbjorn Nesheim’s illuminating paper.

44

early date around this country, having come, most likely, from the Slavic area. Nevertheless, in the few textiles salvaged from Iron Age graves in Finland there are borders from which the weaving was begun proving that they had been woven on vertical looms.1 This is revealed by the fact that the initial edge consists of a band whose weft continues on as the warp of the fabric. The ancient Finns had evidently known this type of loom long before coming into contact with Germanic peoples, inasmuch as rnany of the basic terms, like kutoa (weave), kude (weft), luoda (warp), loimi (warp-thread), niidet (heddle), antedate the Germanic contacts, i.e. the beginning of the Christian era. It is notable that in the rich older Finnish weaving terminology there is only one early term, kaide (ancient Scandinavian sheidt), meaning ‘reed’, that is considered a Germanic loan. On the other hand, among Western loans there are the names of a certain number of differ¬ ent fabries, which indicates that many textile novelties arrived during the course of centuries in Finland by the Western route. One of these is the raanu, which, the available evidence would show, was passed on by the Finns to the Lapps. When sonae novelty—and, concomitantly, the term for it—begins to spread, it usually becomes part of the vocabulary of numerous languages. In the case herein considered, the most important properties of the novel bedspread were presumably, first, its thickness and softness, achieved by spinning thick and slightly twisted threads for the weft> and, second, the striped pattern, which is common to alrnost all raanus. But what the Old Norse word might be that was the original source of the loan, it is difficult to say. The conservative Finnish version would indicate that there was a long a in the first syl— lable of the word. This circumstance shuts out the possibility that Norwegian graena might bc associated with grina, as assumed by

Nesheim.

aforementioned etymology presented by

The same factor likewise gets in the way of the To be sure, it leads us to the earlier a form

Alf Torp.

(e.g. primitive Germanic granu, etc.), but in this family, too, the a is short. Stili, the word fanaily includes Swedish gran ‘spruce’, which in the dialects of Dalecarlia also takes the form grdn, suggesting that there has been an earlier form with long a.2 This form may have been the source of Finnish raanu. We have not, however, run across such a word signifying any textile. It is possible, of course, that the word disappeared at the time when newer bedspreads came into use in place of the old-fashioned *granu. Certain philologists think that the original meaning was 'to be sharp’, etc. From this meaning it was also possible to derive terms for textiles. There are such words as the Finnish piedin, signifying the upper border and width of a piece of fabric, tutkain, the terminal border, the Estonian ai, the border of a cloth, the Tcheremissian ay 'Breite der Lemwand’, which belong to word families with the more general meaning of point, spike. The words were evidently terms used in ancient times to express both the start and finish of the process of weaving a piece of fabric, a term in time evolving into the name for the textile as a whole. It is interesting that the woolen bedspread herein considered has been preserved in its presum¬ ably most original form along the Atlantic and Arctic coasts from Flardanger Fjord in Western Norway to the vicinity of Ter in the Kola peninsula. This is but natural to the extent that the gren/radno is most appropriate expressly in a cold and darnp climate, where no rag carpet or thinner textile could displace it. 1 Since a more extensive study of these matters is under preparation, we shall not go deeper into them here.

2

Fredr. Tamm,

Etymologisk svensk ordbok, Uppsala,

i9°5) P- 231.

45

An Ancient Type of Sledge in Ullsfjord, Northern Norway

ASBJORN NESHEIM OSLO

In Stordalen, a small Sea-Lapp community at the bottom of the Ullsfjord in Troms, a type of sledge is found which roused my interest when I came across it for the first time a few years ago. Particularly striking was the draught arrangement, to which I have seen no parallcl in Lapp tcrritory. It consists of a hauling-line which is placed across one shoulder, by prefcrence the right one, and a steering-pole, fixed to the lcft side of the sledge and held in the left hand. The sledge is intended for use in the winter in hilly country without roads, and it is very light. From its construction and use it should be classificd as a kind of ski-sledge. It is made in different sizes. The largest type (figs. i, 3, 4) is used for transport of firewood and hay, the smallest one (fig. 2) for transport of dung. In the latter case a box is placed on the sledge. When hay is carried, a support of poles is placed on the sledge. These sledges are made of slender and roughly cut birch poles, but stili they are strong and elastic. The sledge in figs. 3 and 4 can even bc used for transport of stones, but in that case it is strengthened by props. Fixed to the front cross-bar we can stili see an extra piece of wood. In fig. 4 we can also see how a pole is used as a brake by being placed under the front cross-bar. The runners are fastened to the body of the sledge by means of tree nails (Norwegian: stallband or snelder) on each side of the posts (Norw. fjetrer). As in similar Norwegian sledges the nails in the Ullsfjord sledge are inserted from above. They are supplied with a knobby “head”, and are driven right through the runner and wedged from below (by an “arette”). The sledge in figs. 3 and 4 has a cross-bar construction with two independent posts + cross-bar (cf. fig. 5), but we sometimes find only a single independent post + a curved piece of wood serving both as post and cross-bar (cf. fig. 6). The weight of the sledge in figs. 3 and 4 is exactly 12 kg, and its measures are as follows: Lcngth (measured under the runners) 190 cm. The largest breadth 70 cm. Height from runner to siderail, “rem”, 17 cm (inside measurement). Lcngth of the steering-pole 205 cm, thickness (in the middlc) 4 cm. The individual parts: breadth of runners 5.5 cm, thickness from 6 cm (in front) to 3-4 cm (at the back); the posts about 6 cm broad; cross-bars (Norw. flauter) 6 cm broad, 3 cm thick; side-rails (“remmer”) 5 cm broad, 2.5 cm thick. Ali measures are approximate. The Lapp terminology of the sledge is as follows: gielka sledge; tncvd'djo runner; juolgi post 46

(Iit.

foot ); snal'do nail (Norw. stallband, snelde) (witli sndl'do-oai'vi head of the nail (Norw.

snclde-hode); duok'to cross-bar (lit. “thwart”, Norw. flaute); ribma side-rail (Norw. rem, langtre); gal’ lo-muorra cross-piece bctween the runner-ends (Norw. dragtre, veiende); gcessin-bdd'di hauling-line (gcessin hauling, bdd’di rope, line); the steering-pole is called stivran (lit. rudder) or stiv'retistdggo which exactly corresponds to “steering-pole”. Ski-sledgcs with a steering-pole are already described in literature. All the sanie 1 think that the Ullsfjord sledge deserves further comment, because the steering-pole sledge has not been previously found in Lapp territory. In addition it seems to give an interesting little contribution to the study of ancient cultural contact between Lapps and Norwegians. In the fundamental work by

Gosta Berg,

“Sledges and Wheeled Vehicles”, the ski-sledge,

with and without steering-pole, is also treated (pp. 53 scq.). According to Dr.

Berg

the Nor-

wegian and West-Swedish ski-sledges are distinguished from more eastern types by one particular constructive dctail, the use of nails (Norw. stallband, snelde). As mentioncd above, this dctail is found on the Ullsfjord sledge. The sledge itself may therefore be considered as a Scandinavian loan. When in addition the terminology is taken into consideration, it seems possible to cstablish the origin of the sledge with greater accuracy. The means to do this is found in the name of the nail, snal'do. This word is a loan word from Primeval Nordic, *snaldio, ON and Norw. snelda f. The word is in common use in Lapp dialects in the sense of “distaff”, and it is the sanie word as Swedish slanda id. As it is hardly conceivable that ON or Norw. snelda in the sense of “sledge nail” should be identified with Lappish sndl'do, “distaff”, we may assume that the word was adopted in Lappish as a name for sledge-nail in the Primeval Nordic period. There is 110 cvidence to disprove this conclusion. Both the Oseberg and the Gokstad finds included sledges with nails, which justifies the assumption that the construction was used in the Primeval Nordic period. Even a few other ternis may be loans from Primeval Nordic. Giel'ka may be derived from Primeval Nordic *kelka-. Theoretically this word may also be derived from Finnish kelkka id. The name of the side-rail, ribma, may correspond to Primeval Nordic *rimu, but the a in the second syllable can also be a neutral vowel, the word then corresponding to ON or Norw. rim f. Even the name of the runner, mced'djo, points to Scandinavia, but it is difficult to fix the age of this loan word. Apparently it is derived from a dialectal variant of Norw. mei, a feminine me ia, (:meie), meio-. I have, however, not succecdcd in finding any instance of such a variant in the dialects of Northern Norway. The old Lappish word for the runner of the geris (the traditional Lapp sledge) is mielgas. This word is also used about the sledge runner in other Lapp dialects (cf. figs. 7, 8). The name of each of the cross-bars, duok'to is transferred from the terminology of boats, possibly by the Lapps themsclves. At any rate thwart) is listed by

Aasen

and Ross, and

I

110

parallel use of tofte (the Norwegian word for

have found

110

instance of it in the archives of “Norsk

ordboksverk”. Another Lapp formation is probably the name of the two cross-pieces between the runner-ends foremost on the sledge, gal’lo-muorra (“forehead-tree”). This word (and gal'lo-fiello, “forehead-board”) is also used in the interior of Finnmark about a parallel dctail in sledges. The sanie holds good of juol'gi, “foot” for post. From the nail and the name of it, sndl'do, we can then infer both that this type of sledge is Nor¬ wegian and that the Lapps started using it in the Primeval Nordic period. The word sndl'do, how47

Fig. i. Slcdge with steering-pole for transport of fircwood and hay. Stordalen, Ullsfjord. Photo A. Fig. 2. Slcdge with steering-pole for transport of dung. Stordalen. Photo A.

Nesheim.

Nesheim.

ever, can teli us stili more about the origin of the slcdge. In its present forni, snelda, the use of this word for a slcdge nail is definitely confined to special districts: Sogn, Hardanger, Nordhordland, and Ryfylke (Ross). In other parts of the country it is callcd stallband, stabband, etc. This fact indicates that the sledge was originated in the south-west part of Norway, and it is in full accordance with the establishment by the archaeologists of a prehistoric immigration to Northern Norway from these districts. In order to obtain a general view of the spread in Norway of sledges similar to that in Ulls-

Fig. 3. Sledge with steering-pole for transport of firewood and hay. Stordalen. Norsk Folkemuseum Sa 3452. Photo Bergliot Sinding.

48

fjord, I had a questionnaire about this sledge sent out through Norsk Etnologisk Gransking. The resuits were traced on the map, fig. 9.1 O11 the map all instances are entered of ski-slcdges and similar sledges, even those with draught arrangements different from that of the Ullsfjord sledge. As will be seen, the map confirms the impression I had of the Ullsfjord sledge as a more or less isolated phenomenon in the Lapp cul¬ ture area, in fact throughout Northern Norway. I should, however, mention that comparatively few answers were received from Northern Norway, but I have supplemented this information by personal inquiries in that part of the country. None of my informants knew the steering-pole sledge. In the interior of Finn-

_

TT

. ,

,

,

, ,

, ,

_

rig. 4. Use 01 brake pole on sledge. (Same sledge as m fig. 3). Photo A. Nesheim.

mark ski-sledges were formerly used when grousing, etc., but these sledges only had a hauhng-line, tied to the middle of the foremost crosspiece. A ski-sledge from the Finnish side of the Tana Valley is shown in fig. io. Flassel in Nordland is the place nearest to Ullsfjord where the use of the steering-pole sledge is substantiated by the answers received. The informant does, however, stress the fact that the pole is used as a brake, not as a steering-pole. It is fastened to the curved part of the runner by a ring, and can be raised or lowered as required. From Vestre Jakobselv in Varanger came the informa¬ tion that a steering-pole was used on sledges “80 years ago”. An enclosed sketeh showed that the pole was fastened to a sledge of the so-called East-Finnish type. The type is shown in fig. 8 and fig. ii. It has strongly curved runner ends, which are connected with the front pair of posts by strings. If this information is reliable, we can assume that the steering-pole is a secondary attribute in this type of sledge. In Finland, where this type of sledge comes from, the steering-pole sledge is, in fact, unknown (information from

dr. t. i. itkonen

and the

curator mr. arne appelgren).

The Finnish sledge types came to Finnmark and Troms with Finnish immigrants. In Lyngen, the district to the north of Ullsfjord, we thus find, not only Norwegian types of sledges, but also Fin¬ nish types, like the one in fig. 8 from Kafjord in Lyngen. These sledges have Finnish names. The one in fig. 8 is named gds'ke-giel'ka after a characteristic detail, gds' ke, meaning a cross-bar of this type (Finnish kaski). In a similar way the Norwegian type of sledge in fig. 7 is called snal'do-giel'ka

1

I wish to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues

for assistance with sketehes and photos, and col¬

An-

leagues in other countries who gave me valuable informa¬

for their kind assistance in this inquiry. I

tion. I am particularly indebte d to Dr. Aall who took on

at the N.E.G., Dr. dreas Ropeid,

Sinding

Lily Aael

wish to thank also Miss 4 — 567994 d. Campbell

and the Curator Mr.

Unni Furst

and Mrs.

Bergliot

the job of writing to colleagues in other countries.

49

Fig. 5. Dctail of fig. 3, showing connection between uppcr structure and runner. Fig. 6. Sledgc foot and cross-bar. Stordalcn. Fig. 7. Sledge of Norwegian type, sndrdo-gieVka, “stallbandkjelke” (“nail sledgc”). (Detail.) Kafjord, Lyngen. a) mielgas, b) snaVdo, c) juoVgi (“foot”), d) aldas (the word also means “upper piece of komag”), e) gdVlo-muorra (forehead-trce), f) jah’kot (plur., the term also covers the fastening on the shaft), g) duok’to (“thwart”). Fig. 8. Sledge of Finnish type, gdfkc-gieVka. Kafjord, Lyngen. a) mielgas, b) juoVgi, c) aldas, d) gdf’ke, e) junni (“nose”).

(“nail-sledge”). There has been only a small Finnish immigration to Ullsfjord, and I have not seen the East-Finnish type o£ sledge there. None of these facts refute the conclusion that the Ullsfjord sledge is an old loan from the Norwegians. The map, however, does not confirm my conclusion that the sledge originally came from the south-west part of Norway. As a matter of fact that part of the country has no instances 50

*

Steering-pole on 1. side + hauling-line. -■

•\

,,

„ r.

,,

,, 1. side of the load itself

„

\

L

+ hauling-line.

J

Hauling-line only (sometimes with

hauling-hook of wood attached). Combined hauling-brake-pole only. Two hauling-lines.

'

Two shafts attached to the sides of

*

,0£ls’1

11

-3V

/' \ - J; \

Two shafts (sometimes with haulingline across the shafts).