Of the Bogs in Ireland. 362 



u Most of the bogs which lie to the eastward of the 

 Shannon, and which occupy a considerable portion of the 

 King's county and county of Kildare, are generally known 

 by the name of the Bog of Allen : it must not however be 

 supposed that this name is applied to any one great morass; 

 on the contrary, the bogs to which it is applied are per- 

 fectly distinct from each other, often separated by high 

 ridges of dry country and inclining towards different rivers, 

 as their natural directions for drainage, so intersected by 

 dry and cultivated land, that it may be affirmed generally 

 there is no spot of these bogs (to the eastward of the Shan- 

 non) so much as two Irish miles distant from the upland 

 and cultivated districts. 



" With this first and general view of the subject, we had 

 no hesitation in selecting at once the whole of the eastern 

 portion of the great district above referred to, as the object 

 of our first inquiries, forming in itself one whole, whose 

 parts had more or less connexion with each other, lying in 

 the centre of Ireland, in the immediate vicinity of some of 

 the richest and best cultivated counties : intersected also by 

 the two great lines of navigation the Grand and the Royal 

 Canals, arid presenting in common apprehension very con- 

 siderable obstacles to improvement ; the overcoming of 

 which would in itself demonstrate the practicability of the 

 improvement of the bogs of Ireland in most other cases. 



" We were further induced to form this selection on the 

 general principles of beginning at the end of the great divi- 

 sion above referred to, which lies nearest to the capital, and 

 proceeding gradually to its termination at the Western 

 Ocean; not however considering ourselves precluded from 

 making occasional exceptions, where particular circum- 

 stances might appear to require it. 



"The proportion which the bogs in this district bear to 

 the entire of the bogs of Ireland, appeared to us a further 

 inducement ; and we are the more disposed to mention this, 

 as we find that by some \\e have been thought to have em- 

 barked in the first instance on too great a scale : on this we 

 shall merely observe, that having two years allotted to us 

 for the duration of our commission, we undertook at once 

 rather less than one third of our task, in the supposition 

 that it would require about eight months for its execution. 



(( Having determined to give in charge the whole of this 

 district, it became the next object of our consideration, on 

 what principle we should subdivide it into the smaller di- 

 stricts, referred to in the first article of our instructions, 

 for the purpose of being assigned to separate engineers. 



Major 



