Even the most unobservant of Englishmen on going to Ireland must be struck with the great difference between that country and his home. The longer he remains across the Irish Channel the greater will that difference appear, and this is certainly no less remarkable in the hunting field than in other spheres of life.
Probably the first thing that the stranger will notice is the entire absence of gates. The ordinary English wooden gate is unknown; there are a few iron gates which are generally fastened up with a chain or rope, and are quite unopenable on horseback; but the entrances to most fields are blocked up with loosely-built stone walls, called "stone gaps," or with ploughs, old donkey carts, logs of trees, or any kind of rubbish which will keep in the cattle, and can be opened up with more or less ease when the stock have to be shifted to other pastures.