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ftill unafcertained. Mofl: parts of Ireland abound in iron ore, and fe- 

 veral mines of that metal were formerly fuccefsfuily wrought, until the 

 undertakers were compelled to defift by the fcarcity of timber. At 

 prefent a rich mine is fuccefsfuily worked, at Arigna on Lough jillin, 

 in the county of Leitrim, where, fortunately, iron ore and coals are 

 found in contiguity. 



What is of infinitely more utility to the inhabitants, than veins of 

 the moft precious metals, Ireland, in different quarters, produces culm 

 and coals, more than fufEcient for the confuraption of the country, were 

 the mines worked with fpirit, and the conveyance of this neceffary ar- 

 ticle facilitated, by the completion of canals, to crofs the country and 

 conneft the lakes and navigable rivers. The collieries for ftone coal, in 

 the ^een^s-County, and county of Kilkenny, are well known and ex- 

 tenCvely worked; fo are the collieries of pit coal in the county of 

 Tyrone, and at Ballycaflle in the county of Antrim, befides thofe at 

 Lough Allin in the county of Leitrim, and feveral collieries in the county 

 of Cork, which yield the common pit or caking coal, in great abundance 

 of excellent quality, particularly the coal pits of the county of Leitrim. 



There are a variety of mineral fubftances, which to an indolent and 

 unenlightened people appear of no value, that rightly ufed may become 

 the prima of confiderable manufactures, or prove ancillary, in no com- 

 mon degree, to their perfeftion ; and many of thefe abound in Ireland. 

 Ochres are produced, in places without number ; a mine of cobalt, a 

 mineral of great ufe in the manufaftures of glafs and earthen ware, is 

 faid to have been difcovered near Killarny. Smith, who explored the 

 natural hiftory of this country, with fome care, afferts that fullers 

 earth and pipe-clay, may be found, in many parts of Ireland. He is 

 alfo of opinion that the Irijh flate abounds in vitriol, and that copperas 

 and alum works might be advantageoufly eftabliflied, in many parts of 

 the ifland. 



Ireland poffeffes inexhauflible quarries of marble, of diftinguiflied beauty, 

 it affords abundance of excellent building ftone, lime for cement, and 



in 



