_For the Table Book._
On Easter Monday several hundred of young persons of the town and
neighbourhood of Portaferry, county of Down, resort, dressed in their
best, to a pleasant walk near that town, called “The Walter.” The avowed
object of each person is to see the fun, which consists in the men
kissing the females, without reserve, whether married or single. This
mode of salutation is quite a matter of course; it is never taken amiss,
nor with much show of coyness; the female must be very ordinary indeed,
who returns home without having received at least a dozen hearty busses.
Tradition is silent as to the origin of this custom, which of late years
is on the decline, especially in the respectability of the attendants.
On the same day several thousands of the working classes of the town and
vicinity of Belfast, county of Antrim, resort to the Cave-hill, about
three miles distant, where the day is spent in dancing, jumping,
running, climbing the rugged rocks, and drinking. Here many a rude brawl
takes place, many return home with black eyes and bloody noses, and in
some cases with broken bones. Indeed it is with them the greatest
holiday of the year, and to not a few it furnishes laughable treats to
talk about, till the return of the following spring. On this evening a
kind of dramatic piece is usually brought forward at the Belfast
Theatre, called “The Humours of the Cave-hill.”