"As the stranger proceeds on his journey through Kerry, which is essentially a mountainous county, he is suprised and shocked at the semi-savage state in which he sees so large a proportion of its population. Groups of girls, whose ages vary from twelve to sixteen, come running after the coach barefooted and ragged, with their long, rough, uncombed hair flying about their faces as if they were so many lunatics just escaped from some asylum. It is evident that they never, or very rarely, wash either their feet or faces, and that such things as a comb or brush never come in contact with their hair. An Englishman, until he sees this, would hardly have believed that such an exhibition could have been witnessed in the United Kingdom." -- Anonymous, in "Impressions of Ireland and the Irish," J. Grant (1844).