on its eastern coasts. Thus, the average annual rainfall at Cork is 40 inches, but at Dublin only 31 inches. MINERALS. As regards mineral productions, Ireland is inferior to England and Scotland in one essential particular-coal-the paucity of which affects injuriously its manufacturing industry. The coalfields of Ireland-diffused, at wide distances apart, through the North-Eastern, Midland, and South-Western counties-are of limited extent compared to those of Great Britain, and their produce small in amount. Peat is the fuel most generally consumed, but coal is imported from England and Scotland. Ireland is rich in iron ore, and there are small deposits of copper, lead, and silver. In many parts of the country there is a great variety of marbles, and building-stones. INHABITANTS.-The population of Ireland according to the last Census was under 4 millions, an average of 137 to the square mile. Ireland contained, in 1901, a population of 4,456 546, or fewer by nearly 1 millions than had belonged to it eighty years earlier, and little more than onehalf the amount of its population in 1841, when it amounted to 8,175, 124. But vast numbers of the Irish people emigrated to other lands during the intervening period; and famine, with its attendant sickness and suffering, contributed to thin the population According to the Census Returns of 1901, the population had decreased over 5 per cent, since 1891, and the present density of 137 inhabitants to the square mile is less than one-fourth that of the density of England and Wales. Race and Language.--The great majority of the Irish population belong to the Celtic race- the same that peoples the Highlands of Scotland and the mountain-region of Wales It is chiefly in the province of Ulster (the northeastern part of the island) that the Anglo-Saxon race is found settled on Irish soil The people of Ulster are the descendants of immigrants from the Scottish Lowlands, and preserve the social habits and industry of Scotland. People of English descent are numerous in the neighbourhood of Dublin, and are also scattered over every portion of the island. The native language of Ireland, called Erse, a Celtic dialect, is rapidly becoming superseded by the English tongue, and nearly all who speak it also understand and speak English. INDUSTRIES.-Some manufactures, such as linen, lace, and poplins, are carried on on a large scale, but Ireland is chiefly an agricultural country. Agriculture.-About two thirds of the surface of Ireland is arable, but a very large portion of the land is in pasture. Cattle, sheep, and pigs, with various farm-produce, constitute (over by far the greater part of the island) its chief industrial wealth. Manufactures.-These flourish principally in Ulster, where the linen manufacture is pursued on a scale of great extent. Woollen and cotton goods are also made, but in smaller quantities. Commerce. A great part of the commerce of Ireland consists in the export of its agricultural produce to the English markets, and in the import of coal, with various articles of British manufacture and foreign produce. The yearly export of Irish live-stock to the English market is as follows:-horses 38,950, cattle 749,750, sheep 821,900, and pigs 660,000. Ports. The principal ports are Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway and Londonderry. The greater part of the trade with Great Britain is carried on between these ports and Glasgow, Liverpool, and Bristol. The chief passenger and mail roue between England and Ireland is from Holyhead to Kingstown (64 miles distant), the outport of Dublin. A route his recently been opened between Fishguard in Pembroke and Rosslare in Wexford. Internal communication is facilitated by excellent turnpike roads, and over 3,183 miles of railways, connecting Dublin and Belfast with all the chief centres of population. Cheap water-carriage is provided by several canals and numerous navigable rivers. TOWNS. Two only of the towns of Ireland contain over 200,000 inhabitants. These are the city of Dublin, the capital, and Belfast, the chief manufacturing and commercial city of the island. Dublin (with suburbs) has over 373,000 inhabitants; Belfast, 349.000; Cork, 78,000; Limerick, 38,000; London'erry, 40,000; Waterford, 27,000; and Galway, 14.000. All these towns except Galway are county boroughs. PROVINCES AND COUNTIES.-Ireland is divided into four Provinces, which are sub-divided into thirty-two Counties. provinces are, Leinster in the east, Ulster in the north, Connaught The in the west, and Munster in the south. LEINSTER contains 12 counties:-Five Maritime-Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford, Meath, and Louth; and Seven Inland-Kilkenny, Carlow, Kildare, Queen's County, King's County, Westmeath, and Longford. ULSTER contains 9 counties:-Four Maritime-Antrim, Down, Londonderry, Donegal; and Five Inland-Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Monaghan, and Cavan. CONNAUGHT contains 5 counties:--Four Maritime-Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, and Galway; and One Inland-Roscommon. MUNSTER contains 6 counties:-Four Maritime-Waterford, Cork, Kerry, and Clare; and Two Inland-Limerick and Tipperary. I. THE PROVINCE OF LEINSTER.' DUBLIN, the metropolitan county, is hilly in the south; the rest of the county is a rich, level, and well-cultivated plain. DUBLIN (289), the capital of Ireland, stands at the mouth of the River Liffey. It is less populous than either Manchester, Liverpool, or Glasgow, but it is a great seat of trade, and has numerous fine public buildings. Dublin has the rank of an archiepiscopal city, and possesses two cathedrals. the seat of several universities. Kingstown (17, on the south side of Dublin It is also Bay has a fine artificial harbour, and is the mail-packet station between Dublin and England, and for steamers plying to Holyhead and Liverpool. 1. The areas and population of the Counties of Leinster are as follows (Census of 1901): (r.) Dublin, 354 sq. m., pop. 447.66. (2) Wicklow, 781 sq. m., pop. 60,679. (3) Wexford, or sq. m., pop. 103.850. 14) Meath, 906 sq. m., pop. 67.463G) Lou h, 315 sq. m., pop. 65.741 (6.) Kilkenny, 796 sq. m., pop. 78,821. 19.) Queen's County, 664 sq. m., pop. 57,226, A short distance to the south of Dublin begins the romantic district of the Wicklow Mountains. The small seaport of Ba'briggan is famous for its hosiery. At Clontarf a famous battle was fought, in which King Brian Boru deleated the Danes in A.D. 1014. WICKLOW has a precipitous coast-line, and the interior is a mass of mountains, rising in Lugnaquilla to 3,039 feet; the wooded valleys of the Avoca and its tributaries are extremely beautiful. There are copper and lead mines, some gold has been found, and pyrites containing sulphur are exported." WICKLOW (4), the county town, Bray (6), a beautifully situated watering place, and Arklow (5), a port and fishing station at the mouth of the Avoca, are the largest towns, and are all on the coast. WEXFORD is for the most part a level plain, fringed on the north-west by offshoots of the Wicklow Hills. Agriculture, dairy farming, and fishing are the chief industries. WEXFORD (11), the county town, exports large quantities of provisions and fish. New Ros (7) is an important river-port on the Barrow. Near Enniscorthy (6) is Vinegar Hill, where the Irish rebels were defeated in 1798. Tuskar Rock Lighthouse, on a dangerous rock, lies five miles E.SE of Greenore Point. Rosslare is the Irish terminus of the new mail-route from Fishguard in Pembroke. MEATH is nearly all level, and the soil fertile and well cultivated. town. The county is watered by the Boyne, on which stands TRIM (2), the county Kells and Navan are small inland towns. Tara Hill (507 feet high), on which the ancient kings of Ireland held their Councils, has ancient earthworks and other antiquities. LOUTH is the smallest county in Ireland. The peninsular portion contains a group of picturesque granite hills-the rest of the county is level and fertile. The county town, DUNDALK (13), has considerable trade and manufac tures. Drogheda (13), built on both sides of the Boyne, 4 miles from its mouth, is a flourishing port; Drogheda was besieged and taken by Oliver Cromwell in 1649. The Battle of the Boyne, in 1690, between the armies of William III. and James II., was fought on the banks of the river a short distance above the town. KILKENNY is mainly a fertile plain, diversified with gentle un lulations. Anthracite coal and black marble are found. KILKENNY (11), on the Nore, a tributary of the Barrow, is the county town and the second among the towns of Leinster in point of population, and also the largest inland town in Ireland. CARLOW forms part of the great central plain, and includes a large area of bog-land. CARLOW, the county town is on the Barrow. Fine granite is quarried at Bagenalstown, on the Barrow, to miles south-west of Carlow. KILDARE includes part of the great Bog of Allen-the rest of the county has a rich and fertile soil. ATHY (4), on the Barrow, Kildare is the famous Curragh, a military camp and race-course-the finest in the county town. Near the ancient town of the world. QUEEN'S COUNTY is mountainous in the north-west-the rest is level and fairly fertile, but there are some large bogs. MARYBOROUGH (3) is the county town. ton are small manufacturing towns. Mountmellick and Portarling KING'S COUNTY is flat and in great part boggy, except in the south-west, where it is bordered by the Slieve Bloom Mountains. TULLAMORE (5), the county town, is on the Grand Canal. Sixteen miles north of Birr or Parsonstown (where Lord Rosse's great astronomical telescope is erected), on the Shannon, are the ruined churches, round towers, ancient crosses, and tombs of Clonmacnoise. WESTMEATH, though level, is beautifully diversified with fine woods and numerous lakes, studded with pretty islets. The arable land is very fertile. MULLINGAR (5), the county town, and Athlone, on the Shannon, are important military stations, and carry on a large trade in cattle and dairy produce. LONGFORD is a pastoral county, level and fertile, except in the bog areas. The county town, LONGFORD (4), communicates by canal and rail with Dublin. At Pallas, a village in the south of the county, Oliver Goldsmith was born in 1728. II. THE PROVINCE OF ULSTER.1 ANTRIM is distinguished, commercially, as the chief manufacturing county in Ireland, and physically, for the long and narrow plateau which extends along the coast from Belfast Lough to the basaltic cliffs of Fair Head and the still more wonderful Giant's Causeway. The county town of Antrim, BELFAST (349), is also the capital of Ulster and the commercial capital of Ireland. industry of the province, and also has cotton and muslin factories, large shipIt is the chief seat of the great linen building yards, foundries, glass and chemical works, &c. export trade of Belfast is larger than that of any other town in Ireland, Carrickfergus (9) is on the north side of Belfast Lough; here William III. The import and landed, in 1690, previous to the battle of the Boyne. Larne is a beautiful place at the mouth of Lough Larne, and a port of call for the Clyde steamers. 1. The areas and population of the Counties of Uster are as follows (Census of 1901): (1) Autrim, 1,190 sq. m., pop. 461,240. (2) Down, 937 sq. m., pop. :89.335 (3) Lendonderry, 816 sq. m., pop. 144.329(4) Donegal, 1,870 sq. m., pop, 173,625. (5) Armagh, 513 sq. m., pop. 125,238. The whole coast from Larne to Portrush-a frequented watering-place on the north-west coast and the station for the Giant's Causeway (passengers to which are conveyed by an Electric Tramway)—is most picturesque. Lisburn (10), on the Lagan, above Belfast, Ballymena (9), in the centre of the county, near the north-eastern shores of Lough Neagh, and other towns, are all engaged in the linen trade and manufacture. DOWN presents an endless succession of cultivated hills, valleys, and small plains, except in the south, where the grandly picturesque Mourne Mountains rise direct from the sea-board. Cereals and flax are largely grown; linen is the staple manufacture, and fishing is also an important industry on the coast. The county town is DOWNPATRICK, near the southern shores of Strang ford Lough, and near the north end of the same lough is Newtownards, a muslin weaving town. Both are much less populous than Newry (13), a large manufacturing and trading town on the Newry Canal, about 6 miles above Warrenpoint, its outport at the head of Carlingford Lough. Bangor is a favourite watering-place on Belfast Lough. Donaghadee is the nearest port to Scotland, the distance from Portpatrick, on the opposite coast of Galloway, being 21% miles. Newcastle is a small seaport and watering-place. LONDONDERRY is level and fertile in the north and centre: on the southern border are the Sperrin Mountains and other ranges. Linen is the staple manufacture, but agriculture and cattle-rearing form the chief industry. The picturesque port of LONDONDERRY (40), on Lough Foyle, is the county town. On the old walls are the cannon used during its famous siege in 1688-1689. Londonderry has a large coasting trade. Coleraine (7), on the Bann, is another important port and manufacturing town. DONEGAL has magnificent coast scenery. From Malin Head to the mouth of the Erne is a bewildering succession of beautiful bays, high headlands, grand cliffs, and innumerable islands. Inland are high mountains, bleak moorlands, long valleys, large bogs, and numerous fine lakes and salmon rivers. Half the county is irreclaimable bog and waste land. The county town, CLIFFORD, is a village; only one town, Ballyshannon, famous for its salmon fishery, at the mouth of the Erne, has above 2,000 inhab itants. Moville, on the western side of Lough Foyle, is a sea-bathing resort and a port of call for the Atlantic "liners" to and from Glasgow and Liverpool ARMAGH is flat and boggy in the north, and hilly in the southeast. The rest of the county is gently undulating and well culti vated. Linen is the chief manufacture, and good marble is quarried near the city of Armagh. ARMAGH, the county town, is also the northern ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland. Lurgan (12) and Portadown (8) are busy manufacturing towns (linen, muslin, &c.) Part of Newry is in this county. |