III.

IRELAND.

Situation and extent.-The figure of Ireland inclines to an oval or rather to a losenge; the northern extremity lying in N. lat. 55° 23', and the southern at Cape Clear in lat. $1° 19'. The extent in longitude is from 5° 36' to 10° 45' west from Greenwich; but the length in a diagonal from south-south-west to north-north-east is about 310 English miles, and the greatest breadth in the middle is about 160 miles. The superficial area of the island has been computed to be 30,370 square miles, or 19,436,000 acres.

Ireland is divided into four grand districts or provinces, each of which contains a number of inferior districts or counties, as in the following list, which likewise shows the names of the chief towns of each county.

The population of Ireland has been very variously stated, some authors allowing only three millions and a half, whilst a late well-informed writer estimates the number of inhabitants in 1804, to be nearly five millions and a half. The following list contains an estimate of the population of some of the principal towns.

Climate and soil.-Ireland and England being situated at equal distances from the equator, the climate of the two

countries.

countries is nearly alike: although in Ireland it has been observed that the winters are now less severe, but the summers more cold and rainy than they formerly were, chiefly occasioned by the late greater prevalence of the gales from the Atlantic, which render the climate of the western and southern provinces very humid.

Ireland may, in general, be regarded as a plain country, the highest mountain, Slieve Donard, in the county of Down, being reckoned to rise but a little above 3,000 feet, or rather, agreeably to the latest observations, to 2,800 feet, above the sea: and the hills seldom form ranges of much extent, being in general distributed in small groupes or in single eminences. The soil is naturally fertile, and under a proper system of agriculture, might be made to produce vast quantities of grain: for even with all the present impediments to improvement, Ireland is still a very fruitful country. From the extreme moisture of the climate, the pastures furnish food for prodigious numbers of black cattle, the exportation of which in the form of salt provisions produces a great income to the country.

Vast tracts of Ireland are covered with bogs of various sorts, some marshy, others clothed with grass, and dry in the summer, and a third kind consisting of peat moors. Of these bogs, many instead of being flat and level, like a marsh in England, are varied into hill and dale, as if they were solid dry ground: their common productions are heath and coarse grass.

Mountains.-These in Ireland are neither numerous nor extensive, although a range of high land may be traced in the direction of the length of the island, from whence the waters run to opposite shores. Slieve Donard has already been mentioned in the neighbourhood of the lake of Killarney is Mangerton, estimated at 2,500 feet of elevation. Cruagh Patrick and Nephin, both in the county of Mayo,

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are above 2,600 feet in height. To the southward of Dublin is a small range called the Wicklow mountains.

Rivers. The chief rivers of Ireland are, 1. The Shannon, which rising in the north-west part of the kingdom, runs southerly, spreading out in different places into wide lakes, and then bending southwesterly forms the harbour of the prosperous town of Limerick, and falls into the Atlantic 60 miles lower down in the shape of an estuary, 10 miles over. The course of the Shannon is about 170 miles. 2. The Barrow, rising west from Dublin, flows for about 100 miles to the southward, and falls into the Irish Channel below Waterford, where it forms an excellent harbour. 3The Liffey, is chiefly remarkable as flowing through the centre of Dublin, where it is navigable for vessels of a moderate size. 4. The Bovne, memorable for the decisive victory gained on its banks over James the Second, which seated William the Third on his throne, flows from west to east, and falls into the sea below Drogheda. 5. The Bann, which falls into and runs out of the great lake Lough Neagh, holds a northerly course of about 70 miles. 6. The Foyle, waters Londonderry, and then opens into the broad estuary called Lough Foyle.

Lakes.-Ireland possesses a number of considerable lakes, there called Loughs, such as Lough Neagh in the north part of the island, which is 22 miles in length by twelve in breadth. Lough Erne, in the north-west quarter, consists properly of two lakes, connected by an outlet inclosing an island, on which stands the town of Enniskillen : the length of the two lakes together is about 30 miles, and the greatest breadth is about 10 miles. This lake is beautified by clusters of little isles: but Lough Neagh is one continued expanse of water. In the county of Galway is Lough Corrib, 20 miles long, and from 2 to 5 broad. The most beautiful of the Irish lakes however is the Lough of Killarney,

in the south-west corner of the island, surrounded with picturesque scenery of rock, wood, and mountain.

Mineral Productions.-Iron is found in abundance in many parts of Ireland, and some veins are of an excellent. quality, and copper is sent over to Wales to be smelted: lead is also met with in very considerable quantities, often intermingled with silver: but the public attention has for some time past been powerfully attracted by the discovery of masses of native gold in a brook in the Wicklow mountains, on the south side of Dublin.

Coal has also been found in various parts of Ireland, particularly in the north; but the beds have not been worked to a proper extent, so that Dublin and many other maritime towns are chiefly supplied with coal from Wales, Cumberland, and Scotland. Marble, freestone, and slate, are frequent in Ireland; and on the northern extremity of the island is the celebrated Giant's Causey, a prodigious assemblage of basaltic columns, similar to those composing the island of Staffa, about 80 miles to the northward on the coast of Scotland. This curious natural production extends above 600 feet into the sea, where it is lost, on a breadth of from 240 to 120 feet, composed of many thousand pillars, generally in a vertical position, in some places broken off to an equal height, so as to resemble a piece of pavement, whence it has its name: the pillars of various shapes, but commonly pentagonal.

The mineral waters of Ireland, although frequent, have never become very famous, owing probably as much to the caprice of the patients, as to the defectiveness of the waters: the sulphureous springs of Swalingbar, in the county of Cavan, and the chalybeate waters of Ballynahinch, in the north, and Castleconnel, in the south-west, are the most noted.

Animals. In the animal kingdom, Ireland differs not sensibly from England: no poisonous animal, it is asserted,