Cabins more comfortable. 181 



On looking into some of the cabins I had the 

 comfort of finding them more calculated for 

 the abode of their humble tenants than I had 

 feared to have found them, but I did not un- 

 derstand that their rents were more moderate. 

 Fuel, their principal comfort here, as well as 

 on the other side of the Black Mountain, costs 

 them about fourteen shillings the ton. Coal is 

 brought from Newry, and is but partially used. 

 In calculating the price of the turf, the labor of 

 cutting it is not taken into account, as few of 

 the poor fellows are fortunate enough to be so 

 constantly employed as not to have leisure for 

 digging their own fuel. 



.mi" i mfty?Jdto%uc 7 10 storf) 



The soil in the vale of Antrim is rich, as was 

 verified by the luxuriance of the crops. We 

 caught a sight of one of the round towers at 

 the distance of about half a mile from us ; but 

 as we expect to meet many others, we suspended 

 our curiosity for the present. Few remains have 

 occasioned more controversy among antiquaries 

 than these buildings. 



Edward Ledwicke, in his Account of Ire- 

 land, supposes " the Irish had neither domestic 

 edifices, nor religious structures of lime and 

 stone, antecedent to the ninth century.'* 



K2 



