CHAPTER X. 



THE VALLEYS OF SOME OF THE IRISH LAKES. 



WE have described the lakes of larconnaught, but if 

 we turn from that country to South-west Cork or 

 West Kerry, areas also remarkable for their numerous 

 lakes, we find very similar relations existing between 

 the breaks, faults, and lake-basins ; for although 

 these portions of Ireland are much less faulted than 

 larconnaught, yet they are traversed by numerous 

 master-joints and faults, on which the lake-basins are 

 situated. All the .areas we have mentioned are more 

 or less mountainous, but the connection between 

 breaks and lake-basins can also be traced in the low- 

 lands of Ireland. Lough Neagh, 1 the premier lake, 

 is evidently situated on lines of breaks, the principal 

 of which bear respectively about N. 10 W., N. 5 E., 

 N. 40 E., and N. 55 E., while there are others of 

 older date bearing more or less obliquely to those 

 mentioned. 



Lough Corrib, 2 the second largest sheet of water 

 in Ireland, has also conspicuous lines of breaks, 



1 Admiralty Chart, No. 53, Ireland. 2 Ibid. No. 2318. 



