358 
IRELAND. 
rior of the count!*}’’, the ifland contains one hundred and 
twenty-five, excluliveof finall ftreams which flow directly 
into the fea or its different inlets. With the exception of 
Wicklow, there is not a maritime county but what has 
one or more rivers either actually navigable or capable of 
being rendered fo at a moderate expence. Many of the 
inland counties alfo participate in this advantage, which 
ynight without difficulty be extended to them all. 
Among the rivers of Ireland, the precedence belongs 
to the Shannon, which, rifing from the Lake of Allen, 
and palling through two other large lakes, Lough Ree and 
Lough Derg, afterwards extends below Limeric into avail 
eltuary about fixty miles in length and from three to ten 
broad. This noble river receives feventy-fix tributary 
ftreams, large and fmall, and is throughout its whole 
courfe of one hundred and feventy miles fo wide and deep 
as to afford eafy navigation. Boate relates, that the ce¬ 
lebrated earl of Strafford defigned to remove a rock fix 
miles above Limeric, which, forming a cataraft, impedes 
the intercourfe between the upper and lower parts: but 
it has fince been deemed preferable to connect them by a 
canal. The Shannon and the rivers which fall into it 
flow through the moll fertile counties of Ireland; and 
feven of the latter might be rendered fit for internal navi¬ 
gation, according to the report of Mr. Jefl'op, made in 
1794, to the directors of the grand canal. 
The Barrow rifes about forty miles to the weft of Dub¬ 
lin, and, after a courfe of about one hundred, it enters 
the fea in the fouth-eaft quarter of the ifland, after having 
received the rivers Nore and Suir, and formed the har¬ 
bour of Waterford. It has been rendered navigable to 
Athy, where the grand canal joins it. 
The Blackwater, a confiderable ftream, paffes through 
the northern part of the county of Cork, and the weftern 
portion of Waterford, in an eafterly direction, until it 
reaches Cappoquin, when it bends it courfe to the fouth- 
ward, and enters the fea at Youghall Bay. It is navigable 
to Cappoquin, fifteen miles from the fea; and, according 
to an eftimate prefented to the houfe of commons fliortly 
before the union, might be rendered navigable forty-three 
miles higher at an expence of 50,0001. 
The Slaney runs nearly fouth from Tullow, in the coun¬ 
ty of Carlow, through the middle of Wexford, forms the’ 
harbour of the capital of the latter, and is navigable about 
thirteen miles from the fea. 
The Liffy is an inconfiderable ftream, ennobled only 
by its wafning the Hibernian metropolis. 
The Boyne, flowing through the rich county of Meath, 
and wafhing the fouthern boundary of Louth, winds in a 
north-eaft direction ; and, with its canal, is navigable from 
its rnouth to Navan, a diftance of twenty-one miles. After 
a courfe of about fifty, it falls into the Irifh Sea. 
The noble river Bann, which runs north almoft in a 
ftraight line from Lough Neagh to the fea, feparating the 
counties of Derry and Antrim, is twenty-eight miles long. 
On the oppofite fide of the Lough, its kindred river, the 
South Bann, flowing in a foutherly direction, joins the 
Newry canal; thus communicating with Carlingford Bay, 
and infulating the north-eaft projection of Ireland. 
The Foyle flows from Strabane, in a north-eaft direc¬ 
tion, through the counties of Tyrone, Donegal, and Lon¬ 
donderry. From its confluence with the Finn and the 
Mourr.e, to its entrance into the Lough which bears its 
name, and conftitutes the harbour of Londonderry, it is 
twenty miles long, and in moft parts upwards of half a 
mile broad. 
The Swiliey is not itfelf of confiderable magnitude, but 
forms a long eftuary or lough, to which it gives name. 
The Erne, with its double lake, might eafily be ren¬ 
dered capable of affording the important advantages of 
internal navigation to confiderable diftrifts in the north- 
vveftc-rn and inland counties; and a communication be¬ 
tween the lake and the fea has actually been undertaken. 
The lakes of Ireland are numerous, and fome of them 
very extenfive. They are called loughs, though tbis.term 
is alfo applied to eftuaries, or inlets of the fea, as the 
Swiliey, the Foyle, and others. The chief frefli-water 
lake is the Erne, which exceeds thirty miles in length and 
twelve in its greateft breadth, and covers 123,611 acres. 
It is divided by a narrow outlet into the fouthern and 
northern part; and upon an ifland in the latter is fituated 
the town of Ennilkillen. It communicates with the At¬ 
lantic Ocean at the harbour of Ballyfhannon, diltant ab’out 
eight miles from the lake. 
Next in magnitude is Lough Neagh, about twenty-two 
miles in length, and twelve in breadth, and comprifing 
94,274 acres. This lake is one vaft ftieet of water, unlike the 
Erne, which is ftudded with iflands that form many rich 
and interefting view’s. The Neagh is fituated in the midft 
of the counties of Londonderry, Antrim, Tyrone, and 
Armagh ; and its waters, or the adjoining foil, have been, 
found to poffefs a petrifying quality. 
Corrib, in the county of Galway, fpreads its waters over 
more than 50,000 acres, being about twenty miles in length, 
and from two to five wide. 
The lakes of Ree and Derg, which are pervaded by the 
Shannon, are lefs confiderable in fize. A fmaller lake, alfp 
named Derg, in the north-weft, was remarkable in fuper- 
ftitious times for a fmall ifland, containing what was de¬ 
nominated the purgatory of St. Patrick. 
Among the lakes of the fecond magnitude muft be firft 
named the beautiful Lake of Killarney, abounding with 
pifturefque views, and fringed with the arbutus, no where 
elfe indigenous in the Britifh dominions. This is almoft 
the only lake in the fouthern divifion of Ireland. In the 
north-weft are the Eafk, Trierty, .Melvin, Macnean, and 
Gill. Allen, as already mentioned, is a principal fource 
of the Shannon. Farther weftward are the Conn and the 
Malk, two confiderable lakes; nor ought thofeof Corrafin 
to be omitted. 
The mountains of Ireland are neither numerous nor im¬ 
portant. The country is divided from north-eaft to fouth- 
weft by an elevated ridge, which gives rife to feveral of 
the rivers. The Irifh hills in general form fliort lines, or 
detached groups. One group of confiderable height ap¬ 
pears on the weft and fouth of the lake of Killarney; of 
thefe Mangerton is 2500 feet above the level of the fea. 
A fmall line of hills extends on the north-vyeft of Bantry 
Bay, and paffes to the eaft, under the name of the Shehy 
mountains. To the north of this is the line of Sliebh-logher 
and Nagles; followed by the Galtee mountains; and to¬ 
wards the eaft are thofe of Knockmeledown, which take 
a foutherly direction towards the bay of Dungarvan. A 
fmall chain alfo runs to the fouth of Tralee, in which the 
lofty Brandon towers above the reft; and this, with a 
group to the north-eaft, completes the enumeration of the 
mountains of Munfter. 
In Leinfter we find the line of Sliebh-bloom, on the 
fouth-weft, and a confiderable group called the Kippure, 
or Wicklow mountains, to the fouth of Dublin. The 
extent of the latter is about thirty miles in length by 
twelve in breadth. 
In Ulfter the mountains of Mourne form a fmall group 
in the fouth-eaft corner of the province; one of thefe, 
Sliebh-donard, is 2803 feet in height. The hills of Sliebh- 
croobe form the centre of the county of Down, and feve¬ 
ral hills are fcattered over the eaftern portion of An¬ 
trim. To the north-eaft of Lough Neagh are thofe of 
Sliebh-gallan and Carn-togher. Sliebh-fnaght is a con¬ 
fiderable mountain to the north-weft of Lough Foyle, 
whence other lines and groups extend to Lough Erne. 
The eaftern part of Connaught has few mountains, ex¬ 
cept thofe of ■ Baughta in the fouth ; but the extreme 
weftern peninfula is one of the moft mountainous re¬ 
gions in Ireland. Among the reft it contains Mount 
Nephin, in the county of Mayo, a folitary hill' of 2640 
feet; Craogh Patrick, a cone of 2660; the Ternamore 
mountains, weftward of Lough Malk; the Twelve Pins, 
a line of fo many fmall peaks in Ballynahinch, with others 
to the fouth of Lough Corrib. 
Scarcely 
