CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



independents, and the Society of Friends, with 

 tfve Roman Catholic chapels, three friaries, and 

 vone nunnery. There are the usual public civic 

 buildings, some of them handsome edifices. The 

 -charitable institutions are numerous. 



The manufacture of linen, which had nearly 

 expired, has revived ; that of gloves has long been 

 important, as well as that of lace and of fish-hooks. 

 Distilling, brewing, tanning, and ship-building are 

 other branches of Limerick industry. The popu- 

 lation in 1871 was 49,980; and in 1881 it was 

 48,670, of whom 45,000 were Roman Catholics. 



Waterford, the chief town of the county bearing 

 its name, and a large seaport, is situated on the 

 Suir, several miles from its junction with the sea. 

 Vessels of 800 tons can discharge at the quays, 

 one of the finest ranges in the United Kingdom. 

 The population in 1871 was 29,250; in 1881, 

 .29,181, of whom 26,000 were Roman Catholics. 



ULSTER. 



The most northerly province is Ulster, con- 

 taining the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, 

 Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Derry, Monaghan, 

 and Tyrone, The province of Ulster is hilly. 

 The scenery is in general picturesque, especially in 

 the vicinity of its chief towns, Derry, Belfast, and 

 Armagh. In the county of Antrim, the country from 

 Glenarm to Bengore Head presents a succession of 

 -striking and romantic views. The most remark- 

 able feature of this scenery is the peculiar con- 

 formation of the basaltic columns with which 

 >it abounds, and of which the arrangement is 

 strikingly displayed in Fair Head and the Giants' 

 Causeway. Bengore, one of the promontories of 

 the Causeway, lies about seven miles west of the 

 little town of Ballycastle : though generally de- 

 scribed as a single headland, it is composed of 

 many small capes and bays, each bearing its own 

 proper name, and of these capes the most nearly 

 perfect is Pleaskin. The summit of Pleaskin is 

 covered with a thin grassy sod, which lies upon the 

 rock, the surface of which is cracked and shivered. 

 About ten or twelve feet from the top, the rock be- 

 gins to assume a columnar character, and standing 

 perpendicularly to the horizon, presents the appear- 

 ance of a magnificent colonnade, supported on a 

 foundation of rock nearly sixty feet in height. 

 About eight miles from Pleaskin is Fair Head, the 

 easternmost head of the Causeway, which presents 

 a huge mass of columnar stones, of coarse texture, 

 but many of them more than 200 feet in height 

 Some of these gigantic stones seem to have fallen 

 from the top, and now present to the eye of the 

 spectator the appearance of groups of artificial 

 ruins. The part which may more properly be 

 called the Giants' Causeway is a kind of quay 

 projecting from the base of a steep promontory 

 some hundred feet into the sea : it is composed of 

 the heads of pillars of basalt, which are placed in 

 close contact with each other, forming a sort of 

 polygonal pavement, somewhat like the appear- 

 ance of a solid honeycomb. The pillars are 

 jointed, and their articulation curiously exact, the 

 convex termination of one joint always fitting with 

 precision into a concave socket in the next. 



The soil of Ulster varies much. In the counties 

 of Armagh, Ddwn, Antrim, Derry, and Monaghan, 

 it passes from a deep rich fertile clay to a dry 

 sandy or gravelly loam ; while in Donegal, Tyrone, 



2TO 



Fermanagh, and Cavan, a great proportion of it 

 is cold, wet, and spongy. Tillage is, in general, 

 in an improved state throughout this province ; 

 and though the old Irish plough and the slide-car 

 are still occasionally used in the remoter parts, 

 many of the modern implements of husbandry 

 have been introduced, especially in Down and 

 Londonderry. The corn-crops most general are 

 oats, bere, barley, and a small proportion of wheat 

 Barley is in Derry said to pay the summer's rent, 

 and flax the winter's. Potatoes are largely planted 

 by rich and poor, and gentlemen-farmers cultivate 

 turnips and mangel-wurzel. Lime and peat are 

 the most usual ingredients of the manure employed 

 in the inland districts ; while in the maritime 

 counties, sea-sand, sea-weed of different sorts, and 

 various kinds of shells pulverised, are used in 

 addition. From the wetness of the soil, in some 

 of the northern parts of Monaghan, the manure is 

 usually carried to the fields in baskets called bar- 

 docks, which are slung over asses' backs, or the 

 shoulders of the poor women. 



Whatever were the manufactures of Ireland 

 before the time of James I. they were swept away 

 in the long series of wars between government and 

 the local chieftains in the days of the Tudors ; and 

 the Scottish settlers in the north of Ireland, and 

 those English whom Boyle, Earl of Cork, brought 

 into Munster, may be considered the introducers 

 of nearly all the manufactures that now exist in 

 Ireland. During the reigns of Charles I. and II. 

 much attention was paid to them ; and the exer- 

 tions of Lord Strafford, Sir William Temple, and 

 the Duke of Ormond, caused the establishment of 

 the linen trade to be attributed successively to 

 each. The Duke of Ormond not only procured 

 several acts for its encouragement, but sent Irish- 

 men to Flanders to be instructed in the details 

 of the flax manufacture ; he also established a 

 linen-factory both at Chapelziod, near Dublin, 

 and at Carrick-on-Suir. In the reign of William 

 III. the linen business rose to still greater import- 

 ance, from the compact between the English and 

 Irish merchants to discourage the woollen and 

 promote the linen trade ; for which purpose they 

 contrived to get an act passed, levying additional 

 duty on Irish woollen goods, from a jealous fear 

 that the prosperity of the Irish woollen trade was 

 inconsistent with the welfare of that of England. 

 Another impetus was given to the linen trade by 

 the emigration of the French manufacturers, after 

 the Edict of Nantes, of whom a large number took 

 refuge in Ireland ; and Mr Louis Cromelin, a 

 leading manufacturer, obtained a patent for im- 

 proving and carrying it on, and his efforts were 

 crowned with considerable success. In the ninth 

 year of Queen Anne, a Board of linen and hempen 

 manufactures was established, and linen allowed 

 to be exported duty free. In the 8th of George I. 

 a grant was given to build a linen hall, and 

 another to encourage the growth of flax and hemp. 

 Previous to 1778, bleached linen was sold in the 

 fairs, the manufacturer being the bleacher ; but 

 when the manufacture extended, bleaching became 

 a separate business. Considerable sums had been 

 from time to time voted by parliament for its 

 support ; and during the eighteenth century, the 

 trade continued to advance, until the check it 

 received during the American war. On the re- 

 establishment of peace, it revived, and though 

 deprived of all artificial props, in the form of 



