IRELAND. 



549 



The streets of Ipswich are irregularly formed 

 but well paved and lighted with gas. The houses 

 are mostly of ancient date, but have a handsome 

 appearance. Amongst the public buildings worthy 

 of notice, are the town-hall, county-gaol, and house 

 of correction. The free grammar school was 

 founded previous to the reign of Henry VIII. 

 There are likewise several charity schools, and 

 numerous almshouses, besides an institution for the 

 widows and orphans of poor clergymen. 



A philosophical society was established in 

 and, besides a library for the use of the free bur- 

 gesses, there are a public subscription library, 

 news-rooms, mechanics' institution with library 

 and museum, and a horticultural society. The 

 chief trade of the place consists in the spinning of 

 woollen yarn, in sail-making, and ship-building. 

 The commerce is principally confined to the expor- 

 tation of corn, malt, cheese and butter, and the 

 importation of timber. Ipswich returns two 

 members to parliament. Population in 1841, 

 24,660. 



IRELAND, GEOLOGY OF.* (a.) Though the geo- 

 logical structure of Ireland is similar to that of Eng- 

 land, still the relative geographical position of the 

 various rocks is essentially different. In England 

 the mountain ranges, consisting of the primary and 

 transition classes, are situated near the west coast, 

 and the newer strata are successively accumulated 

 on each other to the east and south, in which di- 

 rections the country is comparatively flat. In Ire- 

 land, on the contrary, the coast is for the most part 

 mountainous, while the interior is flat, and seldom 

 presents hills of considerable elevation. Thus the 

 primary mountains of Antrim, Derry, and Donegal 

 occupy the north and north-west coasts ; those of 

 Sligo, Mayo, Galway, and Kerry, the west and 

 south-west. The slate districts of Cork and 

 Waterford form the south and south-east ; while 

 the mountains of Wicklow, Louth, and Down, are 

 situated on the east coast. 



These mountain-tracts rarely extend more than 

 twenty miles inland ; and we find the interior, 

 with trifling exceptions, composed of flat or gently 

 swelling grounds, covered by a rich and fruitful 

 soil. This peculiar conformation of the surface 

 has been the origin of the great number of rivers 

 with "which the coasts abound; they have their 

 sources in the neighbouring mountains, whence 

 they flow in short but rapid courses directly into 

 the sea. 



The Shannon forms the most striking example 

 of the rivers of the interior, flowing slowly 

 through the flat country. There are several other 

 rivers which have their origin in the central dis- 

 tricts, but they are insignificant in comparison with 

 the Shannon. They all exhibit the same sluggish 

 character, and, when the slow current of water is 

 interrupted by any impediment, have the same 

 tendency to flood the flat country, on either side, 

 for a considerable extent. 



By far the greater part of Ireland presents a for- 

 mation of carboniferous or secondary limestone ; 

 but as the exceptions are chiefly confined to the 

 coasts, it may be said that almost the whole of the 

 centre of the country offers this feature. The 

 principal exceptions are in the south-west, where 

 coal prevails over the west of the counties Clare, 

 Limerick, Kerry, and the principal part of Cork. 

 In the south-east, graywacke slate extends along 



* Abridged from the Report of the Irish Railway Com- 

 missioners. 



the coast from the middle of the county of Waterford 

 nearly to Kingstown. The same slate is again 

 found in the county Louth, and extends over parts 

 of Cavan, Monaghan, Armagh, and Down. Then 

 commences the tabular trap, which extends over 

 the whole of Antrim and the eastern part of Lon- 

 donderry. The remainder of the latter county, 

 with the principal part of Donegal and Tyrone, 

 presents a formation of mica slate, which also ex- 

 tends over the western parts of the counties of 

 Mayo and Galway. The north-western extremity 

 of Ireland consists almost entirely of granite and 

 quartz. The latter formation is rarely found in 

 any other part of the island ; the former only in 

 three districts to any extent. First, in a line run- 

 ning from Kingstown, in the county Dublin, across 

 Wicklow and Carlow, to a short distance beyond 

 the Barrow, separating in the first half of its 

 course the bed of graywacke slate, and in the se- 

 cond dividing the secondary limestone from the 

 slate. The second bed of granite unites the 

 southern parts of the counties of Down and Ar- 

 magh. The third extends over a considerable 

 portion of the county Galway, westward of the 

 town. 



The characteristic feature of the limestone coun- 

 try is flatness, and the soil, with the exception of 

 the boggy districts, is unusually fertile. In many 

 parts most valuable quarries have been opened, and 

 abundance of stone, of very large dimensions, can 

 be procured for every architectural purpose. 

 Beautiful marbles of various tints occur abundantly 

 in different places, more particularly at Kilkenny, 

 Limerick, Galway, Cork, King's County, Ros- 

 common, and Armagh. In some of the schistose 

 districts valuable beds of fine-grained roofing slate 

 have been discovered and opened. The chief of 

 these are situated in the county of Tipperary, on 

 the banks of Lough Derg, on the Shannon ; at 

 Glenpatrick, south of the river Suir, in the county 

 of Waterford ; and at Valentia island, on the west 

 coast of the county of Kerry. Good veins of slate 

 also occur to the east of Strangford Lough, in the 

 county of Down, in some parts of the counties of 

 Armagh, Monaghan, in Wicklow, Wexford, and the 

 south coast of Cork. 



With respect to metallic mines, veins both of 

 copper and lead have been discovered and partially 

 worked in many of the primary slate districts of 

 the counties of Donegal and Galway, and in the 

 granite slate districts of the counties of Down, 

 Armagh, Monaghan, Wicklow, Wexford, Water- 

 ford, Cork, and Kerry ; also in different parts of 

 the great central limestone district. 



At present few of these mines are in operation. 

 Among the copper-mines the most important are 

 those of the vale of Ovoca, in the county ot 

 Wicklow, which yield from 10,200 to 12,800 tons 

 a year, varying from 4 to 5 a ton ; those of 

 Bonmahon, in the county of Waterford, yielding 

 from 4000 to 5000 tons, at 9 a ton ; and those 

 of Allihies, near Berehaven, in the county of Cork, 

 producing from 6000 to 7000 tons at the same price. 

 The two latter are highly productive, and give 

 employment to a considerable number of miners 

 and labourers. The remaining copper-mines are 

 one near Cahirciveen, in the county of Kerry, and 

 two near Cappawhite, in Tipperary, all opened 

 since the commencement of 1837 ; and the Audley 

 mine at Skibbereen, in the county of Cork. 



The lead-mines of Ireland have not latterly been 

 prosperous, and few are at present at work ; the 



