the South of' Ireland. 359 



exactly the extent of the limestone bearing lead in Kenmare, 

 where most of the unsuccessful trials in search of ore have shewn 

 that the mineral deposits are discontinuous and nearly parallel 

 to the range and dip of the bed ; and in Castlemaine mine, 

 where lead-ore was formerly worked in a mass of calcareous spar 

 and quartz, in thinned out in an unproductive pipe. Near Tralee 

 and Ardford, and on the left bank of the Shannon, lead-ore has 

 been unprofitably worked in limestone, sandstone, and slate. 



In the county of Cork, the copper mines are those of Allihies, 

 Audley, and Ballydehol ; and those producing lead are situated 

 at Doneen and Rinabley. The mine at Allihies is one of the 

 richest mines in Ireland; it was discovered only in 1812, and 

 has already yielded more than 2000 tons of copper-ore per an- 

 num. The ore occurs in a large quartz vein, which generally 

 intersects the slaty rocks of the country from north to south, 

 but in some places runs parallel to the stratification. It is re- 

 marked, that this portion of the county of Cork indicates a very 

 general diffusion of cupreous particles ; so much so, that, in the 

 year of 1812, a cupriferous peat-bog on the east side of Glan- 

 dore harbour, forty or fifty tons of the dried peat produced, 

 when burnt, one ton of ashes, containing from ten to fifteen per 

 cent, of copper. The lead mines of Doneen and Rinabelly are 

 in slate. In concluding a long series of observations on the 

 mines of the tracts described in this paper, the author remarks, 

 that the diffusion of metallic substances throughout the mass of 

 rocks is far from being an uncommon occurrence, — the metalh- 

 ferous matter appearing in isolated particles, and in strings, veins, 

 or filaments, more or less connected with each other, but not 

 continuous or persistent, and therefore of contemporaneous ori- 

 gin with the rock itself. 



3. Carboniferous Series of Clare. 

 The clay-slate in this county is bordered by a belt of red sand- 

 stone, to which succeed, in ascending order and conformable po- 

 sition, the mountain limestone and coal measures, both of which 

 occupy flat and undulating hills, and the strata usually dip from 

 the east of north to the west of south ; but seldom at a greater 

 angle than 5°. The best sections are seen in the cliffs of the 

 west coast, where shale, sandstone, and sandy flag-stones overlie 



