58 Mr. Weaver on the Geological Relations of the South of Ireland. 



(74.) Hence along- the coast to the southward, no coal has been found, 

 until we reach the vicinity of Seafield, situated about fourteen miles from 

 Ennistymond, and nine miles from Raneen, Culm has been met with on the 

 townland of Cahirush, about one mile north of Seafield, and it is said to be 

 twelve inches thick, but it has not been worked : and culm was formerly 

 raised on the townland of Clahaininch, distant two miles south-west from Sea- 

 field. Pits were there sunk through the sand hillocks of the coast to the culm, 

 which however was only six or seven inches thick, and of bad quality. No 

 coal has been discovered further south than this spot. My own observations 

 have not extended along this coast beyond the parallel of Kilrush, but I am 

 assured by different authorities, that the coal measures occupy the whole in- 

 terval to Loop Head, (hough coal itself be wanting in that part of the series. 



On the south coast of this tract, viz. at Labasheda on the right bank of 

 the Shannon, culm has been also worked on a small scale and only to a slight 

 depth, the pits being soon troubled with water. 



(75.) The general view which I have given of the North Munster coal-field, would appear to 

 exhibit no very favourable prospect of its productive power. To the instances of coal having been 

 met with, I have, however, to add the fact that in times of heavy rains, coal has been washed down 

 the ravines on the northern side of Mount Callan (in which direction the coal measures crop out), 

 and in particular on the townland of Sileshawn, part of that of Lallylea, and at a place known by the 

 name of Morrison's Mill. 



From the paucity of coal appearing on this line of coast, in which the general flatness of the 

 coal measures is so well displayed, it would seem that the lower part of the series contains very 

 little coal. Hence, the best chance of discovery appears to lie in the more elevated region of the 

 Mount Callan district, in which the coal measures are accumulated in greater mass; and as they 

 there apparently retain their small deviation from the horizontal position, an opportunity might 

 perhaps be afforded, should valuable seams of coal be laid o])en, of working the whole of that 

 portion of the coal tract level free, a circumstance of material importance to the operative 

 miner, as well as to the proprietor of the soil*. 



* This advantage is enjoyed to a considerable extent, in the vast expanse of the coal tracts of 

 the United States of North America. In my route from the Gulf of Mexico up the Mississippi 

 and Ohio rivers to Pittsburgh, and thence overland to Lake Erie and through the State of New 

 York in the year 1834, 1 was very forcibly struck by the nearly perfect horizontality of the strata 

 throughout; from the first visible rocks of carboniferous limestone and their occasional associates 

 of shale and sandstone, adjacent to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to the continuous coal-bearing 

 measures, which come in force near the influx of the Great Kanawha into the latter river, extend- 

 ing thence westward into the state of Ohio, and northward through the Virginia, Pennsylvania, and 

 New York States to lake Erie ; the prevailing deviation from that position being a slight inclina- 

 tion to the southward, subject, however, to gentle undulations upon a large scale. 



The carboniferous series of the United States, admits of a close comparison with that of the 

 British Isles ; and the following view may serve to show their agreement. This view I give as 



