CLIMATE, ETC. 



XIX 



condensed into rain, which, accordingly, falls in greater quantities 

 in the south and west than on the east coast of Ireland, as will 

 be seen from the following table, for which we are again indebted 

 to Dr. Lloyd : — 



Tablb II. — Total Sain-fall m the Tear 1851 at the several Meteorological 



Stations : — 



The mean rain-fall for all Ireland in 1851 was 34-SO inches. It 

 wiU be seen that the greatest rain (at Cahirciveen) is nearly treble 

 that of the least (at Portarlington). The latter town, no doubt, 

 owes its greater dryness to its position on the north-east, or leeward, 

 side of the Slieve Bloom moimtains ; while Westport, Castletowns- 

 end, and Cahirciveen, all lie on the windward side of high moun- 

 tain ranges, and receive the full discharge from the rain-bearing 

 clouds as they are condensed when they first reach the mountains. 



With regard to the physical features of the surface, it is well 

 known that the mountains of Ireland are collected 'in groups and 

 chains, chiefly in the neighbourhood of the coasts, and that, with 

 the exception of the ranges in which Slieve Bloom and Keeper are 

 the highest, there are no considerable mountains in the middle 

 portion of the island, which has often been described as a great 

 plain bounded on all four sides by mountain barriers. In the 

 north-east there is a mass of basaltic hills covering the greater 

 part of the counties of Derry and Antrim, and part of Armagh. 

 Mica-slate mountains are found in the west, in Mayo and Galway. 

 Granite occurs in Donegal, Down, Dublin, Wicklow, Carlow, and 

 on the north side of Galway bay. The old red sandstone and 

 lower-silurian formations are principally found in Kerry and Tip- 

 perary, and on the Slieve Bloom range of hills. Limestone, covered 



