"All sons, illegitimate as well as legitimate, shared and shared alike, holding the property [of their father] between them in undivided ownership. It was less the actual land than the amount of grazing it afforded which constituted its value. Even to this day a man, especially in the West of Ireland, will tell you that he has 'the grass of three cows', or 'the grass of six cows', as the case may be."
- Emily Lawless, The Story of Ireland, 1896