361 
IRELAND; 
coal, filver, plenty of fine flate, clays, and the moll 
beautiful marbles. 
Tyrone —Iron, and plenty of good potterslxlay. 
Waterford —Copper in abundance, iron, ochres, handfome 
marbles, and near the harbour a molt beautiful green- 
and-black marble. 
■ Wcjlmeath —Copper, lead, coal, and fine yellow and dove- 
coloured marble. 
Wexford —Lead, copper, iron, marble, ochres, and a blue 
earth. 
Wicklow —Cryftals, fulphur, manganefe, copper in abun¬ 
dance, decayed granite, ufed in the manufacture of 
porcelain, lead, tin, gold, and feveral other metallic 
iubftances. 
Iron, which if confidered with a reference to utility, 
•deferves the precedence over every other metal, has been 
found, according to the preceding account, in nineteen 
counties out of thirty-two, and probably exifts in more; 
but a total want of timber, and an infufficient-fupply of 
coal, in the neighbourhood of molt of the places where 
.the iron-ftone and ore abound, render thele advantages 
of no avail? Since the invention of fmelting iron by pit- 
,coal, no fpirited-attempts have been made to work any of 
the iron-mines, except that at Arigna in. the county of 
Leitrim. It was ftated in evidence before the Irifli houfe 
.of commons, that the iron-ftone at this place lay in beds 
from three to twelve fathoms deep; that the fupply was 
inexhauftible; and that the bed of coal in the vicinity, 
better than any in England, extended fix ipiles in length and 
five in breadth. The houfe was alfo allured, that the 
neighbourhood afforded fire-brick clay and freeftone of the 
belt qualities, alfo a bed of potters’ clay two miles long 
and one broad. Mr. Kirwan, whofe opinions on minera- 
logical fubjeCls few will be difpofed to controvert, affirm¬ 
ed on the fame occafion, that the iron of Arigna was bet¬ 
ter than that made from any one kind of ore in England. 
At this place has been erected a very complete furnace, 
.with double fteam-engine, and every requifite lor the pro¬ 
secution of the iron-manufadture. 
At Montrath, in the Queen’s County, are to be found 
ores of iron that it would require centuries to exhauft. 
Iron has alfo been found in the counties of Wicklow and 
Wexford, particularly in the weftern part, on the eftate 
of lord Spencer Chichefter. In Kerry and Waterford it 
is likewife met with in great abundance. 
The gold-mine at Croghan in the county of Wicklow be¬ 
gan to attradl attention about the year 1795- It isfaid, that 
a jeweller, who died a few years fincein Dublin, often de¬ 
clared, that gold from this fpot to the value of 30,0001. 
had palled though his hands, the fecret being kept for 
many years. Before government took polfeffion of the 
mine, there was found one piece of gold weighing 22 
ounces, which is fuppofed to be the largeft ever found in 
Europe. The quantity obtained from the commencement 
of the works till June 1801 was 599 ounces. It is not 
expefted that the produce of this mine will henceforward 
be fufficient to defray the expence of working it; but it 
is not improbable that, in the purfuit, fome rich vein of 
other metals will be difcovered, as there are fufficient in¬ 
dications of them in the neighbourhood. The gold is of 
a bright yellow colour, perfectly malleable; the fpecific 
gravity of an apparently-clean piece 19-000. A fpecimen, 
allayed by Mr. Weaver, in the moift way, produced, from 
24. grains, 2i- 5 J T grains of pure gold, and -^ 6 \- of lilver. 
Some of the gold is intimately blended with, and adherent 
to, quartz; fome (it is faid) was found united to the fine¬ 
grained iron-ftone, but the major part was entirely free 
from the matrix; every piece more or lefs rounded on the 
edges, of various weights, forms, and fizes, from the moft 
minute particle up to 2 oz. 17 dwts. Only two pieces are 
known to have been found of fuperior weight, and one of 
thofe is five, and the other (as noted above) twenty-two, 
ounces. William Molefworth, efq. of Dublin, weighed 
the gold in his balance, both in air and water ; and found 
Vol. XI. No. 759. 
its fpecific gravity, to that of fterling gold, 'as 12 tp i3. 
Kirwan found the fpecific gravity of another fpecimen to 
be as 13 to 18. Stnneffiy Alchorne, efq. affay-mafter at 
the Tower of London, allayed two fp'ecimens of this na¬ 
tive gold. The firft appeared to contain, in 24. carats, 
2i-|of fine gold, i|- of fine lilver, and of alloy, which 
feemed to be copper tinged with a little iron. The fe- 
cond fpecimen differed only in holding 211 inftead of ai-J 
of fine gold. 
Silver has been found in galena in various parts; and 
fome very rich fpecimens of clofe-grained galena with 
much filver have lately been found in the county of Wex¬ 
ford. In general, however, the lead ores contain too lit¬ 
tle filver to be worth the trouble of extracting; but, if 
a mine of the fame kind as the fpecimens above-mentioned 
fliould be difcovered in Wexford, it would be a moft va¬ 
luable objedt of attention. 
Of copper, Ireland contains rich and valuable mines, 
capable of being w-orked to great advantage, and at a very 
moderate expence. In the county of Wicklow there is 
an extent of country nearly ten miles in length, in which 
veins of copper have been difcovered. Here only tw« 
works, thofe of Cronebane and Ballymurtagh, have been 
eftablilhed, though there are many other fituations in this 
diltrict where works might be carried on with great ad¬ 
vantage, from the eafe with which adits could be formed 
for working thefe mines without being obliged to have 
recourfe to expeniive machinery. Copper-ore of a very 
rich quality has alfo been difcovered in the county of Wex¬ 
ford. The hill of Allen, and the hills of Kilmurry, in 
the county of Kildare, inclofe within their ftrata valuable 
veins of copper ore; tire latter of which, though opened, 
have not been profecuted according to their merit. There 
are alfo ftrong appearances of copper ore in the hills of 
Baliyroan in Queen’s County, where remains of ancient 
fliafts are difcovered; and numerous fimilar indications 
are vifible in the counties of Down, Cavan, Londonderry, 
Donegal, and Leitrim. In the fouthera part of the ifland, 
in the county of Waterford, are veins of very rich copper 
ore, which were w-orked with confuierabie fpirit about 
thirty years ago. They were iince relinquilhed ; but are now 
about to be renewed. The copper and lead mines at Lack- 
amore and Doonally, in the county of Tipperary, are ex¬ 
tremely rich; at the lead-mines of the latter place great 
quantities of mountain-green malachite, which had been 
thrown out with the refuie and neglected, have from late 
trials been found fo productive, that it is likely to be of 
more confequence than the lead itfelf, which is found 
here in almoft inexhauftible quantity. In the fouth of ‘ 
the county of Cork are ftrong indications of copper ore. 
How far they run inland here, as well as on the coalt of 
Waterford, has not been afeertained ; but in both they lie 
fo conveniently for water-carriage, and other circum- 
ftances are fo favourable, that they might be explored 
without much rilk or expence. In Rols iiland, in the 
lake of Killarney, a copper-mine is now working, where 
rich grey copper ore is procured in a matrix of quartz, 
containing about 30 per cent, of the metal. The vein is 
from eighteen inches to three feet thick, yields between 
fifty and fixty tons of copper ore per.week, and gives em¬ 
ployment to one hundred and fifty miners. At the fame 
place are found native copper, ruby copper ore, malachite, 
and copper pyrites in great variety. 
Lead is found in great abundance in Ireland, in the 
counties of Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Tipperary, 
Kerry, Cork, Leitrim, Sligo, and undoubtedly in various 
other diftricts as yet unknown and unnoticed. Cobalt 
ore is found at Mucrufs in the county of Kerry, and has 
even been ufed for repairing roads in that neighbourhood. 
Tin, in the form of grain-tin, has been difcovered near 
the gold-mine in Wicklow; and alfo fome of the femi- 
metals, but in fmall quantities. 
The beds of coal met with in various regions of Ire¬ 
land, have not yet been explored to their proper extent. 
4. Z That 
