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IRELAND (TOPOGRAPHY.) 



or families, or from the severe privations to which the 

 peasantry are subjected by the exactions of middle- 

 men and landlords. 



Since the union, the most important event for Ire- 

 land has been the passing of the Catholic Emancipa- 

 tion bill in 1829, by which the political disabilities 

 inultT which the Catholics had hitherto laboured were 

 finally removed. In the article Catholic Emancipa- 

 tion, tlie reader will find an account of this bill, with 

 an abstract of the various motions made respecting 

 it, before it was ultimately carried. It is unnecessary, 

 therefore, to enter upon the subject in this place. 



Topography. The greatest length of Ireland, 

 measuring from N. E. to S. W., is 306 miles ; its 

 greatest breadth 174 miles. The total superficies of 

 the island is, in square miles, according to Wakefield 

 and Arrowsmith, 32,201. A late parliamentary do- 

 cument states it at 19,441,944 statute acres. 



Ireland is divided into four large provinces, namely, 

 Ulster, in the north ; Munster, in the south ; Lein- 

 ster, in the east ; and Connaught, in the west. These 

 are subdivided into thirty-two counties ; of which 

 Ulster has nine, viz., Donegal, Londonderry, Antrim, 

 Tyrone, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Armagh, Down, and 

 Cavan ; Munster, six, viz., Waterford, Tipperary, 

 Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Clare; Leinster, twelve, 

 viz., Louth, Meath, West Meath, Longford, Dublin, 

 Kildare, King's County, Queen's County, Wicklow, 

 Carlow, Kilkenny, and Wexford ; and Connaught, 

 five, viz., Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, and Roscom- 

 iii ui. The islands, of all sizes, belonging to Ireland 

 are 196 in number, of which 140 are inhabited, con- 

 taining a total population of 43,000. Of these islands, 

 eighty belong to Connaught, seventy to Munster, 

 forty to Ulster, and six to Leinster. 



The following table exhibits the names of the coun- 

 ties of each province alphabetically arranged, the 

 length, breadth, territorial extent, baronies, parishes, 

 and chief towns of each county, with the distance of 

 each town from Dublin. 



Ireland is distinguished for the number and extent 

 of its lakes or loughs, its rivers, and its bays. Lough 

 Erne occupies about one-sixth of the county of Fer- 

 managh, measures forty miles in length, but varies in 

 breadth from one mile to nine, and is adorned with 

 about 100 islands. Lough Neagh washes the shores of 

 five different counties, and is 01 a quadrangular form, 

 32 miles long by 16 in width. It is now navigated by 

 steam-boats. These are the largest fresh- water loughs 

 in Ireland. Donegal contains many small lakes, 

 contributing to its picturesque scenery ; one of them, 

 called Lough Dearg, is celebrated as the theatre 

 where superstitious ceremonies are annually enacted 

 at St Patrick's Purgatory. There are upwards of 

 twenty lakes in the county of Cavan, in one of which 

 the river Erne takes its rise, the source of the great 

 lake of that name. Loughs Melville, Nilly, and 

 Gill, are the most interesting in the north-west angle; 

 and in Connaught, the lakes called Carra, Mask, and 

 Corrib, may be termed inland seas. There are four 

 expansions of the Shannon, lakes Allen, Bonn, Ree, 

 and Derg. There are about thirty pools formed in 

 the mountain glens of the county Clare ; and Kerry 

 is celebrated for its beautiful lakes at Killarney. The 

 celebrated lakes of Glendalough and the beautiful 

 lough of Luggelaw are numbered in the ten pools of 

 the county of Wicklow ; and the county of West- 

 meath is a region of waters. Here are lough Ouil, 

 the reservoir of the Royal Canal ; Belhaven Lake, 

 and the loughs called Ennell and Sillin, all possessing 

 extensive areas ; besides the largest and most beau- 

 tiful, Derryvarragh. There are, besides, several 

 great inlets or arms of the sea, which it is customary 

 in Ireland to call loughs ; the principal are loughs 

 Swilly, Foyle, Larne, Belfast, and Strangford. The 

 lakes of Ireland are so important as mediums of con- 

 veyance, that the rivers appear rather less valuable 

 here than in other countries. 



Many of the rivers of Ireland are extended through 

 lengthened lines, and navigable for considerable dis- 

 tances. The Shannon is the noblest river in the 

 island ; indeed, it is without a rival in the three 

 kingdoms, for size and extent of course. It rises at 

 the foot of Culka mountain, in the county of Cavan, 

 and passing by Carrick, Lanesborough, Athlone, 

 Banagher, Portumna, Killaloe,and Limerick, falls into 

 the sea, after a course of 190 miles, during almost the 

 whole of which it is navigable. Besides a number 

 of minor streams, the Shannon receives the Fergus 

 below Clare and Ennis, the Suck below Ballinasloe, 

 and the Brosna near Banagher. The Inny joins it in 

 Lough Ree, and the Camlin near to Tarmonbury. It 

 is crossed by bridges at Carrick, Athlone, Banagher, 

 Portumna, Killaloe, and Limerick. That at Portuin- 

 na is of great length, and built of wood, the others 

 are all of stone. The Suir is the second river in 

 magnitude. It rises in the mountains of Kilnemana, 

 and flowing past the large towns of Cahir, Clonmel, 

 and Carrick, washes the quays of Waterford, and 

 falls into the Atlantic below Dunmore East, after 

 having its waters swelled by those of the Nore and 

 the navigable Barrow. The rapidity and floods of 

 the Nore render improvement in its navigation im- 

 practicable ; but the Barrow, which rises in the 

 King's County, and takes a southerly course of many 

 miles, affords a valuable line of inland navigation. 

 The Lee rises in the romantic lake of Gougane Barra, 

 in the county of Cork, and after a short course from 

 west to east, and being augmented by numerous rivu 

 lets, falls into the harbour of Cove, six miles below 

 Cork city, the head of its navigation. There are 

 three Blackwater rivers in Ireland. The southern is 

 the finest river. It rises in the borders of Kerry and 

 Cork, and flows by Mill Street, Mallow, Fermoy. 

 Lismore, Capoquin,and Youghal, at the last of which 



