1869.] The Miner aloffical Resources of Ireland. 501 



come to consider the extent and nature of her resources in coal 

 or iron, we cannot but feel that she labours under disadvantages 

 which go far to explain the causes of the comparative impoverish- 

 ment and the almost purely agricultural habits of her population. 



Without large supphes of coal and iron, especially the former, 

 it is needless to say that no country can take a foremost rank in 

 those arts and manufactures which are the sinews, not only of war, 

 but of peace. And notwithstanding the deficiency in these com- 

 modities, from which Ireland suffers, it is highly to the credit of 

 the inhabitants of Ulster that in one branch of manufacture — the 

 linen trade — this province has no superior, scarcely a rival. This 

 branch of manufacture, introduced by the Protestant refugees from 

 France, is carried on by the aid of imported coal and native-grown 

 flax, and has been the means of making the town of Belfast the 

 second in importance only to Dubhn, and amongst the most thriving, 

 spirited, and industrious centres of industry in the British empire. 



But notwithstanding several successful attempts in Belfast, 

 Dublin, and elsewhere, to compete with the sister-country in 

 engineering, ship-building, and ii'on manufacture, Ireland is, and 

 must ever be, an agricultural and pastoral country. For this she 

 is peculiarly adapted by the genial character of the climate and the 

 richness of the soil ; for any other she is disqualified. We look in 

 vain for those vast deposits of coal, or those stores of iron ore, with 

 which England and Scotland have been so richly endowed, and 

 from which they derive such solid advantages. Nature has, we 

 think, dealt hardly by the sister-isle ; for we have very good 

 evidence for believing, on geological grounds, that the coal-fields of 

 Ireland must have been, at some distant period, proportiouably 

 greater, as regards the area of the country, than those of Britain, 

 This assertion may startle some persons who are not versed in the 

 process of inductive reasoning on geological principles ; and, for 

 their sake, we shall shortly state the grounds upon which we base 

 this conclusion. 



If we examine the coal-fields of England, we shall find that, 

 with few exceptions, their lowest strata repose upon a basis of 

 Carboniferous limestone. Whether we examine the coal-bearing 

 tracts of South Wales, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire on the 

 south, or of North Wales, Lancashire, Cumberland, &c., on the 

 north, we find layers of this limestone supporting strata of shale, 

 sandstone, and grit, which become more carboniferous as we ascend 

 in the series ; and ultimately pass up into the series of strata which, 

 on account of their most important feature, are denominated " Coal- 

 measures." Now, throughout this series of strata we observe a 

 gradual change from the calcareous beds at the base to the coal- 

 bearing shales and sandstones of the upper part; the limestones 

 near theii- junction with the Millstone grit and Yoredale beds 



