They are supposed to be the descendants of the Irish and Scotch who came over to this country about two hundred years ago, and wandered on and on till they reached these solitudes and then settled down in sparse and scattered groups far apart, not in villages but in single families, where they have been living undisturbed through all these changing years, marrying and intermarrying with some kind of ceremony peculiar to themselves, from generation to generation. Children have been born, grown to be old men, and died, having never passed out from their own solitary homes. They hold no communion with the outer world; no “iron horse” steams through their solitudes, and few and far between indeed are the travellers who invade their wilderness. Even with each other their communication is scarce and scant--their nearest neighbour may be residing from five to twenty miles away; visiting is therefore a rather difficult process, especially as there are no roads leading from one place to another. People have to find their way, or rather make their way, over the rough, stony mountain, and through the tangled woods, wading through brooks and leaping across dangerous chasms before they can enjoy the luxury of looking on a human face! These poor people can neither read nor write, they have no means of learning to do either; they are beyond the reach of the school-board, without the pale of civilisation. There are no schools, no books, no newspapers, no post, no highroads, no church, no law but what their own untaught nature lays down; no religion save that which they evolve from the mystery of their own being--for even in the most savage, untutored breast, a still small voice is always whispering speculations as to the unknown from the beginning to the end and after. They build their own log huts (some of which are in the last stage of dilapidation) and make their own rough furniture. Having cleared as much land as they want, they grow patches of corn, cabbages, and such like; nuts, fruits and sorrel, and other kinds of green stuff which they use for food all grow plentifully in these uncultivated lands. Some own a cow and a few fowls, and wild hogs are numerous enough to supply them with all they need of animal food.