IRELAND 



3045 



IRELAND 



The mass of the Irish people are descendants 

 of a Celtic race, the relationship of which to 

 the Celts of Great Britain is not understood 

 (see CELTS). The early invaders of different 

 races, whether from England, Scandinavia or 

 the Mediterranean countries, were absorbed 

 into the original stock without changing its 

 character, though the Celtic tongue gradually 

 sank into the background. The English and 

 Scotch who came later, however, and settled in 

 the northeastern part of the island, were never 

 assimilated, difference in religion rather than in 

 race for the newcomers were Protestants 

 emphasizing the division; and until the present 

 day the friction between the two factions has 

 not disappeared. English is the dominant 

 tongue, and there are in the entire island fewer 

 than 600,000 who can speak Irish, and not 

 more than 17,000 who speak Irish only. During 

 the early part of the twentieth century en- 

 thusiastic scholars put on foot a movement 

 for reviving the use of the Irish tongue, and 

 classes have been established in many schools. 



The population of Ireland shows a very in- 

 teresting line of growth and decrease. In 1770 

 there were about 2,500,000 people in the island, 

 but shortly after that the population began to 

 increase rapidly. Economic conditions were 

 better, and a very satisfactory foodstuff, the 

 potato, had been found which would grow 

 easily and was palatable as well as nutritious, 

 and the supporting power of the land began to 

 be taxed to the utmost. In 1821, when the 

 first official census was taken, the population 

 was 6,800,000; twenty years later it reached 

 8,196,000 the high-water mark. A potato fam- 

 ine in 1845 brought death to many, and was 

 the cause of the first extensive emigration of 

 Irish to other lands an emigration which has 

 continued ever since. Between 1847 and 1852 

 more than 1,000,000 went to the United States, 

 which has remained the most popular foster- 

 country for the Irish. Every census-taking re- 

 veals a decline in population, but in 1911, with 

 its population of 4,390,219, Ireland still had 

 135 people to the square mile a density more 

 than four times as great as that of the United 

 States as a whole. Over two-thirds of the 

 people live under rural- conditions, but the 

 number of dwellers in cities or towns of 2,000 

 or more is increasing at the expense of the 

 rural element. There are eight cities with a 

 population greater than 25,000; two of them 

 are suburbs of Dublin; the others are Belfast; 

 Dublin, the 'capital; Cork, Londonderry, Lim- 

 erick and Waterford. 



Irregularities of Coast and Surface. A very 

 old historian writes of Ireland that this island 

 "lying a-loose upon the Western Ocean in 

 shape resembleth an egg, plain on the sides, 

 and not reaching forth to the sea in nooks and 



elbows of land as ^__ 



Brittaine doeth;" 

 but a glance at 

 the map will 

 show his error. 

 On the east, 

 probably the only 

 shore known to 

 this early writer, 

 there are, it is 

 true, long 

 stretches of fairly 

 straight coast, but 

 the western out- 

 line is bold and 

 rugged, marked 



COMPARATIVE AREAS 

 Maine has 33,040 square 

 with numerous miles; Ireland, 32,596 square 



i n d e n t a - miles ' 



tions. These are fiords, or drowned valleys, 

 like those of Norway, and here and there along 

 the coast are rocky islets, the projecting peaks 

 of mountains long ago submerged. This west- 

 ern coast of Ireland, with its hills running down 

 to the sea, has of late years been much visited 

 by tourists, and occasional resort-towns have 

 sprung up. The total coast line of the island 

 is almost 3,000 miles. 



Though it is in the west that the mountains 

 approach the sea most closely, it is true of the 

 island in general that the highlands follow the 

 coast. This does not mean that there is a 

 continuous ridge, for Ireland has no such thing 

 as a mountain range; but most of the isolated 

 masses are plainly visible from the sea. At 

 places in the northwestern counties cliffs of 

 solid rock 2,000 feet in height rise sheer from 

 the water, an awe-inspiring sight to the sea- 

 voyager. As in England, the highest mountain 

 peak, Carrantuohill, 3,414 feet in height, is in 

 the picturesque lake region. 



Within the walling mountains is the central 

 plain of which the bogs, the most characteristic 

 physical feature of Ireland, make up a large 

 part. Dreary, brown, totally unfitted for culti- 

 vation, this bogland is not harmful as are many 

 damp, swamp regions, for no fever-breathing 

 vapors rise from it. It supplies the Irish peo- 

 ple, too, with much of their fuel, for from it 

 are cut the blocks of peat vegetable matter 

 submerged for a long time, but not long enough 

 to become coal. See PEAT. 



