344 RUEAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



pose you can wish." The climate being damper and 

 milder than in England, extremes of heat and cold are 

 there almost unknown, at least as regards three-fourths 

 of the island. Herbaceous vegetation is luxuriant, and 

 it is not without reason that the clover or shamrock has 

 been adopted as the heraldic emblem of the Emerald Isle, 

 as it is called. The south-west coast enjoys a perpetual 

 spring, owing to the ocean-currents which set in from the 

 tropics. Myrtles there grow in the open air, and the 

 arbutus or strawberry tree is one of the commonest of 

 shrubs. 



No country has more natural facilities for water-car- 

 riage, interior as well as exterior. Immense inland lakes 

 as Lough Neagh, with an area of one hundred thou- 

 sand acres ; Lough Corrib, of fifty thousand, and others 

 profusely scattered over the country, afford unexampled 

 means for transport. The Shannon, the finest river in the 

 British Isles half river, half lake .extends nearly across 

 the country from east to west, for a distance of two hun- 

 dred miles, and possesses this great advantage, that, 

 saving a few obstacles which might easily be removed, 

 it is navigable to its source. Other rivers, equally navi- 

 gable, flow in all directions from different lakes, and form 

 branches of a vast system, which short canals might easily 

 complete. The coast also is everywhere indented with bays 

 and harbours, one of which Cork could shelter all the 

 fleets of Europe. The nature of the country is no less 

 favourable to road communication. Ordinary roads and 

 railways are capable of being constructed with less labour 

 and at less expense than in Great Britain. 



Notwithstanding these natural advantages, the misery 

 of the Irish has long been proverbial. Four large cities 

 Dublin, containing 250,000 inhabitants, Cork 100,000, 

 Belfast 80,000, and Limerick 60,000, and situated in 



