288 



SLIGO-SLING. 



turning at its middle on a horizontal axle; the 

 board, when placed upright, was visible from the 

 two stations above and below it, but when it was 

 turned horizontally, it was not perceptible from 

 either); the same signal was repeated by all the 

 rest in succession, so that the workmen at the 

 lower end of the trough received intimation of the 

 approach of the tree almost instantaneously. In a 

 few minutes, the tree came thundering past the 

 men, and plunged into the lake. The lowest 

 board was then turned down, which was followed 

 immediately by all the rest; and thus the workmen 

 at the top were informed of the safe descent of the 

 tree. The same operation was repeated during 

 the rest of the day ; and it was so arranged that a 

 tree should descend every five or six minutes. 

 When the progress of the tree was impeded by any 

 obstacle, or when it started out of the trough, the 

 board was only half depressed; and as the work- 

 men knew by this signal that something was wrong, 

 those who occupied the stations above and below 

 the place where the tree had struck, came and 

 assisted in removing the obstruction, which was 

 generally occasioned by the springing of a beam in 

 the trough. In order to prove the enormous force 

 which the trees acquired by the rapidity of their 

 descent, M. Rupp caused some of them to spring 

 from the trough. The result was, that they pene- 

 trated the earth by their thickest ends to the depth 

 of eighteen and sometimes twenty-four feet; and 

 one of them having accidentally come in contact 

 with another, cleft it from top to bottom, with the 

 violence and rapidity of lightning. In order that 

 none of the small wood might be lost, M. Rupp 

 constructed several extensive manufactories in 

 different parts of the forest, for the purpose of 

 reducing it to charcoal. He also built magazines 

 for preserving it when made. The trees, after 

 having reached the lake, were made up into rafts, 

 and floated down the Reuss, by the Aar, into the 

 Rhine. By this rapid conveyance, they generally 

 arrived at Basle a few days after they had left 

 Lucerne. At Basle they passed out of the hands 

 of the company. They were still floated down the 

 Rhine in rafts to Holland; and thus performed a 

 journey of about 4000 miles, in less than a month 

 from the time they left Pilatus, until they arrived 

 at the German ocean. We are sorry to add, that 

 this stupendous work of art is now totally destroyed, 

 and that almost every trace of it is obliterated on 

 mount Pilatus. The great demand which formerly 

 existed for the timber having entirely ceased, owing 

 to political causes, the cutting and transporting of 

 the timber was necessarily discontinued, and the 

 slide was suffered to go to ruin. See Playfair's 

 Works, vol. i, Appendix, No. 2, p. 89. 



SLIGO; one of the five counties of the province 

 of Connaught, Ireland. It extends about forty 

 miles from north to south, and about thirty-eight 

 from east to west. The character of the county is 

 mountainous, and it comprises a great variety of 

 soil. The most fertile and beautiful part is to the 

 south of the town of Sligo; the waste land lies 

 principally in the north and west. The principal 

 streams are the Sligo, Bonnet, Owenmore, Arva, 

 Cooloney, Esky, and Moy. The chief fresh water 

 lakes are lough Gill, Arva, Talt, and Gara. Sligo 

 is one of the limestone districts of Ireland. Lead 

 ore, rich in silver, has been found at Ballysadare, 

 and other places; copper ore, at the foot of Ben- 

 bulben; and coal, on the eastern borders of the 

 county, which forms part of the Connaught coal 



district. Tin- six baronies into which Sligo ia 

 separated, are called Carbury, Corran, Coolavin, 

 Leney, Tyreragh, and Tyraghrill. Sligo is a 

 borough, and the chief town of the county; Ard- 

 naru, Ballymote, and Colooney, are but small 

 places; but the character of this district, though 

 unsuited to the establishment of large towns, seems 

 congenial to the growth of villages, of which it 

 contains upwards of twenty. There are iron-works 

 and collieries adjacent to the borders, and the 

 manufacture of linen is pursued with great perse- 

 verance. The agricultural exports shipped at the 

 port of Sligo are also considerable. The popula- 

 tion of Sligo, which is chiefly Roman Catholic 

 in 1821, was 127,879; in 1831, 171,508. 



SLIGO; a sea-port town of Ireland, capital of 

 the county of the same name, is situated upon the 

 river Gara, which emanates from lough Gill, and 

 falls into Sligo bay, below the town. Sligo is 

 one of the best towns in Connaught, and is daily 

 advancing towards commercial importance. The 

 custom-house and queen's stores are on an extensive 

 scale. The origin of the place may be dated from 

 the erection of a castle and abbey here, by Maurice 

 Fitzgerald, lord justice of Ireland, in the year 1252. 

 Sligo is a port of considerable trade; about 300 

 vessels of various classes belong to it, estimated to 

 carry 20,000 tons. The harbour has been improved 

 by the erection of a pier. Here are found rock 

 cod, turbot, ling, and oysters. The chief exports 

 consist of linen, yarn, butter, and oats; and the 

 imports are coal, from Scotland principally, hard, 

 ware, and pottery. Sligo is distant from Dublir, 

 133 miles north-west. The population in 1831 is 

 not recorded, but it is above 10,000. 



SLING. The sling was a very general instru- 

 ment of war among the nations of antiquity. The 

 Baleareans, or people of the islands now called 

 Majorca and Minorca, excelled at the sling, and were 



much employed in the armies of the Romans and 

 Carthaginians. Livy mentions some tribes still 

 more dexterous than the Baleareans, who discharged 

 stones with so much force that neither buckler nor 

 head-piece could resist them, and who hit their 

 mark to a hair-breadth. The story of David and 

 Goliath proves the efficiency of the sling. 



SLOANE, SIR HANS, a distinguished naturalist, 

 and founder of the British museum, was born in 

 the north of Ireland, in 1660, and studied medicine 

 in London, where he settled in the practice of his 

 profession. In 1727, he became president of the 





