According to the Map published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the greatest length of Ireland, in a line nearly from north to south, is from Bloody Farland Point in the county of Donegal to the Old Head of Kinsale in Cork, 245 miles; and the greatest breadth, from Achill Head in the county of Mayo, on the west, to the mouth of Loch Strangford in the county of Down, a little to the north of east, 200 miles. In an oblique direction the greatest length is, from Fairhead in the county of Antrim to Mizen Head in the county of Cork, 306 miles, in a line bearing north-north-east by south-south-west. Pending the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, nothing can be stated with certainty regarding the area of Ireland. It is however estimated in the Map published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, at 18,484,343 statute acres, or 28,881 statute square miles, of which 215,252 statute acres are under water. Another estimate made in 1831 is as follows: Dry land Unprofitable, mountain and bog Statute Acres. 14,603,473 5,340,736 455,399 20,399,608; south-east, is narrowest at its northern extremity, where it | sive mountain district of Ireland. Commencing from the is called the North Channel, and the opposite coasts ap-east the Slievenaman, Knockmildown, and Gaultee ranges proach within 14 miles, between the Mull of Cantyre in extend in successive elevations of from 2000 to 3000 feet Scotland and Fair Head in the county of Antrim. South- across the south of Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Limerick; ward from this, that part of the channel which contains the after subsiding under the coal district which spreads from Isle of Man expands to a breadth of 120 miles, between Limerick over the north-east of Kerry, they rise again tothe coasts of Louth and Lancashire, and bears the name of wards the Atlantic, where Mount Brandon terminates the the Irish Sea. Being again contracted by the projecting series in a lofty promontory which separates the bay of coast of Wales to a breadth of about 65 miles, it assumes Dingle from the mouth of the Shannon. Southward from the name of St. George's Channel, which it bears until it these groups the same formation occupies the entire counexpands into the Atlantic at its southern extremity. The ties of Cork and Kerry; the elevations here towards the remainder of the coast-line on the north-west, west, and east are moderate and the country fertile, but they spread south-west is formed by the Atlantic Ocean. The chief over a wider surface and attain a greater altitude as they lines of communication between Ireland and Great Britain trend towards the sea, occupying the whole western part of are from Londonderry to Glasgow, 138 miles; from Belfast Cork and the southern portion of Kerry with precipitous to Glasgow, 107 miles, and to Liverpool, 156 miles; from and sterile ridges, among which MacGillicuddy's Reeks in Donaghadee to Portpatrick, 21 miles; from Dublin to Liver- Kerry rise to the height of 3404 feet, being the highest pool, 130 miles, to Holyhead, 63 miles, to Port-Dinnlleyn, ground in Ireland. Northward from Dingle Bay the lime70 miles; from Waterford to Bristol, 222 miles; from Cork stone district again touches the sea, but throughout the to Bristol, 268 miles-sailing distances. western parts of Limerick and Clare it is overlaid by the great Munster coal-tract, from under which it again emerges on the south side of the bay of Galway. North and west of Galway the space between the limestone plain and the sea is again occupied by mountains. An extensive tract of granite with peaks of quartz and greenstone rising to the height of 2400 feet forms the northern boundary of the bay of Galway, and from this point northward to Killalla Bay a series of primitive rocks consisting chiefly of micaslate and protruded masses of quartz is interposed between the Atlantic and the inland plain, except in one instance where the limestone reaches to the sea through the low country connecting the plains of Mayo with the head of Clew Bay. A primitive ridge of mica-slate and granite, nearly surrounded by the limestone which intervenes between it and the coast, prolongs this district northward and westward through Sligo to within a short distance of the borders of Donegal, where it subsides to rise again in that extended primitive formation which occupies almost all the county of Donegal and a great part of the counties of Derry and Tyrone. The north-western portion of this district consists of granite and quartz with numerous veins of primitive limestone, which is also of frequent occurrence throughout the great field of mica-slate that constitutes the remainder and rises in mountains from 1500 to 2500 feet high. This district is succeeded on the east by the great trap-field of Antrim, which overlies it through an extent of nearly 800 square miles: the cap of trap is supported throughout by a bed of chalky white limestone reposing on lias, the denuded edges of which give an extraordinary variety of colouring and structure to the cliffs of that coast: the substratum of mica-slate protrudes from below the superincumbent masses at the north-eastern extremity of the field, and crossing the Channel re-appears in Scotland. The clay-slate tract which succeeds the trap-field on the south and west, extending over Down and Armagh into MonaThe most remarkable feature in the distribution of high ghan, Louth, and parts of Cavan, Meath, Longford, and and low land over the surface is the great limestone plain Roscommon, also re-appears on the opposite side of the which occupies, with little interruption, almost the whole of Channel, forming the grauwacke district which extends the central district extending from the sea at Dublin on the from Portpatrick to St. Abb's Head on the Frith of Forth. east to the bay of Galway on the west, and from the coun- The granite group of the Mourne Mountains and the granite ties of Sligo and Fermanagh on the north to the confines of and greenstone group of Slieve Gallion occupy a considerCork and Waterford on the south. The chief mountain-able portion of this clay-slate tract, protruding in conspicuous groups are either external to this plain, or rise in insulated ridges near its borders. Commencing from Dublin, where it touches the sea, the first interval between the limestone country and the Channel is occupied by the granite range of the Wicklow and Mount Leinster Mountains, which extends southward from the confines of Dublin and Wicklow into Carlow, and terminates near the confluence of the Barrow and Nore. From the flanks of this chain a clayslate formation extends on the one hand into the eastern portion of Kildare, and on the other to the sea, forming the more cultivable portions of Wicklow, and almost the entire of Wexford; this latter district is interspersed with protruded masses of quartz and greenstone. Abutting on the southern extremity of this granite range commences a series of mountain-groups skirting the limestone plain on the south. The main constituent of these elevations is clayslate and old conglomerate supporting flanks of yellow sandstone. One group, that of the Gaultees in Tipperary, is entirely insulated by the limestone, which also occupies several longitudinal valleys of the external district and in some places penetrates to the sca. This is the most exten Total but this is probably above the true amount. masses in the southern parts of Down and Armagh to a height of 2500 feet and upwards. This completes the circuit of the interior plain which extends between the last-mentioned district and Dublin to the sea. The principal detached groups which occur within the limestone plain are the Slieve Bloom and Slieve Baughta ranges, consisting of nuclei of clay-slate supporting flanks of red and yellow sandstone, which extend to a considerable distance on each side of the valley of the Shannon in the counties of Tipperary and Queen's County, and Clare and Galway respectively. A tract of old red sandstone rises into a chain of moderate elevation on the borders of Roscommon and Sligo in the north-west part of the plain, and several greenstone elevations diversify its surface in the centre and south-west. The limestone-plain likewise contains six coal-districts. the Leinster, or Castlecomer district, on the south-east; the Slieve Arda, or Tipperary district, on the south; the Munster district, extending through parts of the counties of Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Clare, on the south-west; the Loch Allen district, round the source of the Shannon, on the north west; and the Monaghan and Tyrone districts, on the north there is also a coal district of small extent in the northeastern extremity of the county of Antrim. The coal raised in the southern districts is anthracite, or blind-coal; that raised in the districts north of Dublin is bituminous. In addition to these the central district of Ireland contains upwards of one million of acres of bog, comprehended for the most part within that portion which would be embraced by lines drawn from Wicklow to Galway, and from Howthhead to Sligo. The greater portion of these bogs lies west of the Shannon in the counties of Galway, Roscommon, and Mayo; the remainder, extending in various tracts through King's County, Longford, Westmeath, and Kildare, is known collectively as the Bog of Allen. Numerous ridges of limestone-gravel, called Eskers, surrounding these several divisions, offer an unlimited supply of the material best adapted for their improvement. It is calculated that an expense of 17. 5s. per acre would be sufficient for the drainage of these bogs, which are at present inaccessible and useless for the purposes of turbary. On an average of five years ending with 1829 the annual quantity of rain which fell at Cork in the southern extremity of the island was 35 inches, and in a like calculation for Derry, at its northern extremity, the average annual quantity was 31 inches; being in both cases considerably above the average quantity for most parts of Great Britain, though much below the average at Kendal, Keswick, and a few other places. Frosts are rarely severe in Ireland, and snow does not lie so long as in England; neither are thunder-storms of so frequent occurrence or of so formidable a character. The extension of tillage has contributed in a considerable degree to lessen the extreme moisture complained of by early historians; and to the quantity of darkcoloured earth now annually turned up intelligent writers attribute a fact often remarked by old persons, that the winters have latterly become much milder. The prevalent winds are from the west and south, and these are usually accompanied by a mild state of the atmosphere. Easterly winds are keen, and much dreaded by invalids. Instances of longevity are numerous, and the population generally The chief characteristics of the scenery of Ireland are freshness and verdure the surface is less rugged than that of Scotland, and more varied and undulating than that of England; it is however generally deficient in timber. The works of various tourists have latterly attracted_much attention to the natural beauties of the southern and west Besides these encumbrances the lower carboniferous lime-healthy. stone, which constitutes the central plain, is overlaid in many tracts towards the borders of the district by the upper or splintery limestone, and this is generally accompanied by a craggy and rough surface: such is the case in the vicinity of each of the coal districts and throughout the counties of Sligo, Fermanagh, Cavan, and Leitrim. These districts contain numerous caverns, and streams sinking into sub-ern districts. terranean channels are here of frequent occurrence. By much the greater part of the central plain however is unincumbered, and has the pure carboniferous limestone for its substratum. Throughout these districts the soil is rich and sweet, and the surface gently undulating. The mountain groups and waste lands on the whole occupy a comparatively small portion of the entire island, and many of the districts lying without the central plain rival the richest limestone lands in easiness of access and fertility. Rivers and Lakes.-From the arrangement of the mountain groups round the borders of the central plain the courses of the greater number of the rivers of Ireland are necessarily short. Of those which drain the external districts the chief are the Blackwater and Lee in Cork, the Foyle in Donegal and Derry, the Bann and Lagan in Antrim and Down, and the Slaney in Wexford. The rivers of the central district have longer courses and a much greater body of water. The chain of Slieve Bloom and the low range of the Eskers divide the central plain longitudinally into two unequal portions, of which the western division is by much the greater. The eastern or smaller division is again subdivided by the summit-level of the bog of Allen into a northern district, the waters of which discharge themselves into the Irish Sea by the Boyne, and a southern district, which sends its drainage in an opposite direction into the Atlantic by the united streams of the Barrow, Nore, and Suir, all navigable rivers. The western division, which much exceeds the united basins of these several rivers, is drained solely by the Shannon, which, from its great body of water and course through a flat country, possesses the extraordinary advantage of being navigable from its source to its mouth, a distance of nearly 240 miles. Those portions of the central plain which lie beyond the basins of the Shannon and Boyne discharge their chief drainage into a series of lakes which skirt the limits of the limestone country on the west and north. The lakes of Galway and Mayo form such a series, separating the primitive district of Connaught from the plain on the west; the extended line of Loch Erne in like manner drains that portion of the central plain which stretches towards the primitive district of Donegal and the high lands of Tyrone on the north; and Loch Neagh collects the waters of the remainder by the Blackwater River on the north-east. The other principal lakes of Ireland lie within the basin of the Shannon, those of most consequence being merely expansions of that river. The water-power afforded by the different rivers and natural dams of Ireland is greater than in any equal extent of accessible country in Europe. The surface of all the lakes in Ireland is estimated at 215,252 statute acres, or 336 square miles. Climate. There is but a small portion of Ireland which is more than fifty miles distant from the sea-coast, and on three sides of the island the Atlantic Ocean extends uninterrupted: hence the climate is more moist and less liable to severe cold than in any of the neighbouring countries. HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.-In the various names of Ireland, as known to the classic writers, Iris, Iernis, Iuvernis, Hibernia, &c., the radical Ir or Eri, by which it is still known to its own natives, is plainly traceable. It is customary among the Irish to indicate a country by the affix Hy or Hua, sometimes written O, as in the case of proper names, signifying literally the (dwelling of the) sons or family of,' such as Hy-Mania, Hy-Tuirtre, Hy-Brazil, &c. In adding this affix to names beginning with a vowel it is optional to insert a consonant to prevent the concurrence of open sounds, thus Hy-v-Each, meaning the country of the descendants of Each or acus. Again, this affix requires the genitive, which in Eri is Erin, and thus all variations of the name, from the Iris of Diodorus Siculus, and the Ir-land and Ireland of modern times, to the lernis (Hy-Ernis) of the Orphic poems, and the Hibernia (Hyb-Ernia) of Latin writers, would seem to be accounted for. The name Scotia does not appear to have been applied to Ireland till about the end of the third century, from which time to the beginning of the eleventh it continued to indicate that country exclusively. The Scoti, who were in possession of the island at the time of the introduction of Christianity, appear to have been to a great extent the successors of a people whose name and monuments indicate a close affinity with the Belge of Southern Britain. A people also called Cruithne by the Irish annalists, who are identifiable with the Picts of Northern Britain, continued to inhabit a portion of the island distinct from the Scoti until after the Christian mission; and it is observable that the names of mountains and remarkable places in that district still strikingly resemble the topographical nomenclature of those parts of North Britain which have not been affected by the Scotic conquest. The monuments and relics which attest the presence of a people considerably advanced in civilization at some period in Ireland, such as Cyclopean buildings, sepulchral mounds containing stone chambers, mines, bronze instruments and weapons of classic form and elegant workmanship, would appear to be referrible to some of the predecessors of the Scoti, and indicate a close affinity between the earliest inhabitants of Ireland and that antient people, by some referred to a Phoenician origin, whose vestiges of a similar kind abound throughout the south and south-west of Europe. The Scoti were not builders in stone, at least in their civil edifices, nor did they use bronze implements. Their own tradition is that they came originally from Scythia, by which is meant the north-eastern part of central Europe, which appears to be confirmed by the fact that the antient topography of the country, in districts where the Scotic invasion has not wholly obliterated it, points at the Welsh language as the nearest representative of that spoken by the predecessors of the Scoti, and that the chief distinctions which at present exist between the Irish and Welsh languages are referrible to a Gothic or Northern European source. The general conversion of the Irish Scots to Christianity took place in the earlier and middle portion of the fifth century. The principal instrument in effecting the change was Patrick, who landed in Ireland on this mission in the year 432. Before this time Christianity had made some progress, but the mass of the people were heathens. The form of church government introduced by Patrick was episcopal in his doctrine and that of his successors for many centuries it is affirmed that there are no traces of those peculiar tenets which the Reformed churches rejected in the sixteenth century. A considerable advance in civilization followed the introduction of the new religion. Greek and Roman literature got some footing among the clergy, and an improved system of architecture became requisite for religious edifices. The Irish round towers are now generally ascribed to an ecclesiastical origin, and are supposed to have been erected during the sixth, seventh, and eight centuries, which form perhaps the most prosperous epoch in the history of the country. From the end of the eighth century till the coming of the English, in A.D. 1170, the disputes of the petty princes of the country, and the frequent depredations of the Danes and other northern pirates, render the annals of Ireland a melancholy series of feuds and disasters. Up to this time the government of the island had usually been vested in one monarch, who was entitled to certain subsidies and services from the petty kings of the provinces, and they in like manner levied contributions from the minor chiefs of territories. Dermod Mac Murrough, king of Leinster, having seduced the wife of one of these petty princes, and otherwise grown oppressive to his subjects, was expelled from his dominions in 1168, and fled for succour to Henry II. king of England, who, having already obtained a grant of Ireland from pope Adrian IV., readily gave his countenance to the restoration of Mac Murrough on receiving his oath of allegiance; but, being at that time engaged in a war with the French, he was unable personally to undertake the expedition. Several Welsh adventurers however, having obtained his licence to embark in the undertaking, fitted out a small armament, with which they landed in the county of Wexford, in the month of May, A.D. 1170. The conquest of the entire island was soon effected. In 1174, the king, coming over in person, received the submission of the Irish monarch, and of almost all the provincial and petty kings, and in the same year had his title confirmed, and the discipline of the Irish and English churches assimilated at a general synod of the Irish clergy held at Cashel. The country was now portioned out among the AngloNorman conquerors, and with the introduction of English modes of tenure the erection of courts of law and appointment of executive authorities had their commencement. The twelfth year of the reign of king John, who succeeded his father as lord of Ireland, is the epoch to which the final division into counties is generally referred. This division appears to have embraced almost the entire of Ireland, although through subsequent reverses most of the counties in Ulster and Connaught ceased to be considered shire ground. These disasters were chiefly owing to the exorbitant powers enjoyed within their several territories by the great lords of the country, who finding the Irish customs more congenial to arbitrary authority, by degrees fell away from the exercise of the English law, and assumed the characters of despotic chieftains. In particular, the family of the De Burgho's in Ulster and Connaught, being released, by the murder of William earl of Ulster, in A.D. 1333, from the restraint which he had for some time exercised over them, seized the better part of the latter province and assumed Irish names; while the northern native Irish recrossing the river Bann, beyond which they had hitherto been confined, drove the English out of the north-eastern parts of Ulster, and narrowed the pale in that direction to the county of Louth. In like manner the families of Desmond and Kildare, having possessed themselves of a great part of Munster and Leinster, introduced the Irish customs on that side, so that on the accession of king Henry VIII. there was but an inconsiderable tract along the eastern coast in which the English law was fully recognised. In this and the succeeding reigns of Elizabeth and James I., the English government having now the double motive of effecting a religious as well as a civil reformation in Ireland, applied themselves with great energy to the recovery of their authority, and, after a tedious series of rebellions and confiscations, succeeded at length, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, in making the entire island shire-ground, and planting a numerous Protestant proprietary in Ulster. The Reformed church had already been established in A.D. 1535; but the great body of the native Irish still continued attached to the Roman Catholic faith. In October, 1641, a rebellion, having for its object the overthrow of the new establishment and the restoration of the old proprietors to their estates, broke out among the native Irish, and was afterwards joined by the chief Roman Catholic nobility and gentry: the result of the civil wars which ensued was the suppression of the Irish and Roman Catholic party, and a general confiscation of their lands. On the accession of James II., and the prospect of a reestablishment of the Roman Catholic church, the same party again rose to considerable power, and on king James retiring to Ireland after the revolution of 1688, they supported his cause through an arduous war of three years' continuance, until after the defeats of the Boyne and Aughrim, when they finally capitulated at Limerick, on the 3rd October, 1692. Extensive confiscations followed this civil war also. The military men and other more active members of the Roman Catholic party left the country, and entered into the service of different states on the Continent, where they very generally distinguished themselves by their fidelity and bravery. Those who remained, still constituting the bulk of the population of the island, were henceforth treated with extreme severity; yet, notwithstanding the harshness of the penal laws from time to time enacted against Roman Catholics, the country generally prospered during the century of uninterrupted tranquillity that ensued. The example of the American and French revolutions however having created a democratic spirit among many of the northern Protestants, and some of them having taken up arms in the year 1798, led to another rising among the Roman Catholic peasantry of much the same character with those insurrections in which their ancestors had unfortunately been so often engaged. This rebellion, being likewise suppressed, led the way to the Act of Union, by which the parliament of Ireland, which had of late years enjoyed an absolute independence of all power but the crown, was merged in that of the United Kingdom, A.D. 1800. The Irish Roman Catholics, who had greatly increased in wealth and numbers since the time of the Union, were in the year 1829 admitted generally to the political privileges enjoyed by Protestant dissenters. The Reform Act considerably added to their political influence, and various changes are now in progress and operation, the general tendency of which is to give them a large share of political power in the state. POPULATION.-Notwithstanding the numerous colonies of British who have from time to time settled in Ireland, the great bulk of the population is still of the native Irish race. The native Irish are of a warm and imaginative disposition, with much natural eloquence and a strong perception of humour; they are very hospitable, and individually brave; the prevailing vices of the national character are improvidence and a disposition to riotous excitement. During the wars in the reign of Elizabeth they were reduced to considerably less than a million in number, but in the subsequent progress of the population they have increased in a much more rapid ratio than either their English or Scottish fellow-countrymen. The following table exhibits the numbers of the entire population at the several dates below: latter country there are only two agricultural labourers for every five for the same quantity of land in Ireland. Hence it appears that the productive powers of the soil of Ireland, as compared with those of the soil of Great Britain, are little more than half developed. The causes of this deficiency are to be sought in a bad system of agriculture, small farms, and want of capital. A marked improvement is however observable both in the quantity and quality of Irish agricultural produce within the last ten years. The increase in quantity will be apparent from the following table of the comparative exports of some of the principal articles of such produce in the years 1825 and 1835: Exports of Irish Produce in 1825 and 1835. Commodities. The distribution of this very large population is chiefly towards the eastern side of the island; the west and northwest are comparatively thinly inhabited. The general condition of the people is considerably improved of late years, but still there is a very numerous class of peasantry in the west and north-west whose state is extremely wretched. The average rate of wages for agricultural labourers throughout the entire country is about 84d. per day, and the average employment about twenty-two weeks of six working days each in the year. The classes into which the population was divided in 1831 appear in the census of that year as follows:-Families chiefly employed in agriculture, 884,339; ditto chiefly employed in trade, manufactures, and handicraft, 249,369; ditto not comprised in the preceding classes, 251,368; males 3,794,880; females 3,972,521; total Wheatmeal, Flour, and 7,767,401 persons, forming 1,385,066 families, inhabiting 1,249,816 houses. Cows and Oxen, number do. do. Horses Sheep Grain, viz.: Wheat, qrs.. Lard. do. number Oatmeal cwts. Potatoes do. Provisions: Bacon and Hams do. 362,279 223,398 Beef and 1 Pork do. 604,253 370,172 723,935 0 Butter do. 352,849 3,316,306 0 35,261 70,267 35,006 182,013 0 52,244,800 87,352 0 37,660 0 In the same year the number of agricultural occupiers employing labourers was 95,339; of occupiers not employing labourers, 564,274; of male labourers employed in agriculture, 567,441; of males, 20 years of age, employed in manufactures, 25,746; employed in retail trade or in handi- Eggs { craft as masters or workmen, 298,838; of capitalists, bankers, professional and other educated men, 61,514; of labourers employed in labour not agricultural, 89,876; of other males 20 years of age, except servants, 110,595; of male servants 20 years of age, 54,142; of ditto under 20 years, 44,600; of female servants, 253,155. Religion. In 1834, according to the returns of the Commissioners of Public Instruction, there were in Ireland 6,431,008 Roman Catholics; 852,676 members of the Established church; 642,356 Presbyterians; 21,808 other Protestant dissenters: and 6254 whose religion could not be ascertained; being in the proportion of 44 Roman Catholics nearly to one Protestant of whatever denomination. Education.-In 1834 there were in Ireland 9657 daily schools, being in the proportion of one school to each 824 of the entire population, educating 633,946 young persons, being in the proportion of 7 97 per cent. of the entire population under daily instruction. Of these schools 5653 were supported wholly by payments from the children, and 4004 were supported wholly or in part by endowment or subscription of the latter class there were in the above year 892 in connection with the National Board of Educa- | tion; 203 in connection with the Society for Discountenancing Vice; 115 in connection with Erasmus Smith's fund; 235 in connection with the Kildare-street Society, and 618 in connection with the London Hibernian Society. There is a University at Dublin, a Roman Catholic College at Maynooth, and various superior establishments for education in other towns. [BELFAST; DUBLIN; &c.] Crime.-During the year 1836 there were 23,891 persons committed for trial or bailed, of whom 7769 were charged with offences against the person; 671 with offences against property committed with violence; 6593 with offences against property committed without violence; 500 with malicious offences against property; 214 with forgery and offences against the currency; and 8144 with other offences not included in the above classes. The proportion of the offenders to the entire population was 1 in 325, and the male offenders were to the female as 0.82 to 0 18. Of the total number of offenders 6744 males and 490 females could read and write; 3898 males and 912 females could read only; 7435 males and 2595 females could neither read nor write; and of 1542 males and 275 females the instruction could not be ascertained. The total number of convictions in that year was 18,110. PRODUCTIVE ECONOMY.-Agriculture.-The agricultural produce of Ireland was estimated, in the year 1832, at 36,000,000l. per annum, raised off 14,603,473 acres. This falls short, by nearly one half, of the amount of produce yielded by an equal arca in Great Britain; and yet in the Feathers. Hides and Calf Skins, Wool, Sheep and bales Spirits. :: 45,831 0 1,240 0 The earnings of the agricultural labouring classes, including occupiers labouring on their own land, in 1836, are cstimated at 6,844,5007. The value of the peat annually raised from the bogs for fuel is very considerable. At 35 kishes or loads per family, which is the estimate of Mr. Wakefield, averaging 9d. per kish, the value of the quantity required for fuel in 1831, calculating only on the families employed in agriculture, would be 1,160,6947.; but this is probably too low an estimate, as it only exceeds by about 200,000l. the value of the imported and native coal consumed in the same time. Mining. The annual average produce of the mines worked by the Mining Company of Ireland in 1836 was about 150,0007., and of the mines worked by other parties about 220,000l. The export of lead and copper ore in 1835 amounted to 477,660 cwts., of an estimated value of 179,3887. The mines and quarries at present open are not however worked to their full extent; this branch of industry is indeed still in its infancy in Ireland. Fisheries.-In the general coast fishery in the year 1836 there were employed-decked vessels 215, tonnage 7093 tons; half-decked ditto 870, tonnage 10,292 tons; open sail-boats 1812, tonnage 9178 tons; and row-boats 7864: total number of fishermen 54,119; showing a considerable decrease since 1830, when the number of fishermen employed was 64,771. The earnings of each fisherman having a share in the produce being estimated at from 3s. 6d. to 48. per week on an average through the year would give the nett profits of the produce for 1836 at 527,650l. The gross annual produce of the coast and river salmon fisheries does not amount in all to 10,0007. Manufactures.-The value of the unbleached linens sold in the several counties of Ulster in the year 1824 was 2,109,305., and in all Ireland for the same year 2,580,6977. Since that time there is no authentic return; but the introduction of linen-yarn spinning-machinery has latterly given the linen trade an extraordinary impetus in the northern counties of Ulster. The exports of linen in the year 1835 amounted to 70,209,572 yards, of an estimated value of 3,725,0547., being an increase on the linen export of 1825 of 15,095,057 yards. The cotton trade is carried on to a considerable extent in the same district, and in one large establishment in the county of Waterford; but it has latterly declined, and many of the mills originally designed for the spinning of cotton are now turned to the manufacture of linen yarn, the demand for which is much greater than the present means of production can meet. The export of cotton fabrics, which in 1825 amounted to 10,567,458 yards, in 1835 was only 1,039,088 yards, estimated at a value of 15,2531. In the latter year there was however an export of cotton in other forms of manufacture to the amount of 132,8807. Since the year 1822 the woollen trade has declined considerably. In that year there were in and about Dublin forty-five establishments, the annual value of the goods produced in which, if estimated at present prices, would be about 200,0007. The total value of the woollens now manufactured in the same district is about 90,0007. In the districts of Cork, Kilkenny, Moatɔ, and Carrick-on-Suir, where the woollen trade formerly flourished, the present value of the woollens annually manufactured does not exceed 20,000Z.; and the flannel trade of Wicklow and Wexford, which in 1822 was estimated at 56,000l. for the annual value of its produce, may now be considered as extinct. The manufacture of worsted and stuff articles is the only branch of this trade which has increased within the last sixteen years: it is now carried on to a considerable extent at Mount Mellick and Abbeyleix in the Queen's County. Such of the general trade as remains is however considered to be at present in a healthy state, and reasonable hopes are entertained of a progressive improvement. The value of the different woollen manufactures exported in 1835 was 40,1287. a considerable portion of this export was to the south of England, which is now more accessible to the Irish than to the northern English manufacturer. The silk manufacture is also much decayed: the export of silk fabrics in 1835 amounted to 21,7407. In grinding, malting, brewing, and distilling, a great advance has been made in Ireland within the last fifteen years. The number of corn-mills in Ireland in 1835 was 1882; of corn-kilns, 2296; of distilleries, 95; of rectifying distilleries, 19; of breweries, 236; of paper manufactories, 57; of glass-works, 6; and of tobacco factories, 291. The export of oatmeal, flour, and wheatmeal, which now amounts to nearly one million and a half sterling annually, has grown up almost wholly of late years; so also the valuable export trade in porter. Steam Power.-There were, in 1835, 151 steam-engines of from 1 to 100 horse-power each, employed in various manufacturing operations in the towns and neighbourhoods of Belfast, Clonmel, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Londonderry, Waterford, and Portlaw. Of these the first was erected in Belfast in the year 1806. In addition to these there are upwards of 90 steam vessels with engines of from 20 to 300 horse-power engaged in the British coast and canal traffic. Cork is now a station for steamers sailing to North America, and a steam communication is kept up during the summer months between Bordeaux and Dublin, and Havre and Belfast. COMMERCE.-Inland Traffic.-The inland traffic of Ireland is almost wholly carried on either by high road or Being in all about one-fourth of the similar means of internal traffic existing in 1835 in an equal area in Great Britain. The general direction of the traffic of Ireland is eastward, of the external traffic almost wholly so. With the exception of the transverse lines of the Royal and Grand Canal, the great bulk of the inland traffic lies towards and along the eastern coast from Londonderry to Cork inclusive. Carrying Traffic.-The means of external traffic possessed by Ireland amount to less than one-fourteenth of those of England, and to rather more than a third of those of Scotland. The following table exhibits the number of vessels, with the amount of their tonnage, and the number of men and boys usually employed in navigating the same that belonged to the several ports of Ireland in the years below::-Vessels. Tonnage. Men, On the 31st December, 1834 1536 119,398 8731 1835 1627 131,735 9282 1836 1635 128,469 9189 Here the proportion of seamen to tonnage is about 1 to 14; in the merchant-service of England the proportion is as 1 to 18 nearly This difference is to be accounted for by the superior size and better management of the English vessels, which require less manual labour. The general navigation of Ireland and its progress appear from the subjoined table, showing the number of vessels, with the amount of their tonnage and men (including their repeated Voyages), that entered inwards and cleared outwards at the several ports of Ireland, from and to all parts of the world, during each of the years below :— |