36$ Of the Bogs in Ireland. 



boundaries of the bogs with any tolerable accuracy. They 

 then report as follows : — 



u From inspection of this map we were enabled to con- 

 sider the greater part of these bogs as forming one connected 

 whole, and to come to the general conclusion, that a por- 

 tion of Ireland, of little more than one fourth of its entire 

 superficial extent, and included between a line drawn from 

 Wicklow head to Galway, and another drawn from Howth 

 liead to Sligo, comprises within it about six-sevenths of 

 the bogs in the island, exclusive of mere mountain bogs, 

 and bogs of less extent than 500 acres, in its form resem- 

 bling a broad belt drawn across the centre of Ireland, wiih 

 its narrowest end nearest to the capital, and gradually ex- 

 tending in breadth as it approaches to the Western Ocean. 

 This great division of the island extending from east to west 

 is traversed by the Shannon from north to south, and is 

 thus divided into two parts : of these the division to the 

 westward of the river contains more than double the extent 

 of the bogs which are to be found in the division to the 

 eastward ; so that, if we suppose the whole of the bogs of 

 Ireland (exclusive of mere mountain bog and of bogs un- 

 der 500 acres) to be divided into twenty parts, we shall find 

 about seventeen of them comprised within the great division 

 we have now described, twelve to the westward and five to 

 the eastward of the Shannon, and of the remaining three 

 parts, about two are to the south and one to the north of 

 this division : of the positive amount of their contents we 

 have as yet no data that can enable us to speak with any 

 precision; but we are led to believe, from various commu- 

 nications with our engineers, that the bogs in the eastern 

 division of the great district above described amount to 

 about 260,000 English acres, which on the proportion al- 

 readv mentioned would give rather more than one million 

 of English acres as the total contents of the bogs of Ire- 

 land, excluding however from consideration mere moun- 

 tain bogs, and also all bogs of less extent than 500 acres, 

 of each of which description the amount is very considera- 

 ble : of the extent of the latter some idea may be formed 

 from a fact which we have learned from Mr. Larkin, that 

 in the single county of Cavan, which he has surveyed, there 

 are above ninety bogs, no one of which exceeds 500 Irish 

 acres, but which taken collectively contain above 11,000 

 Irish, which is equivalent to above 1 7,600 English acres, 

 besides many smaller bogs varying in size from five to 

 twenty acres. 



* Most 



