Few of the places above enumerated are of considerable size; so that, if we except Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Limeric, Galway, Sligo, Londonderry, Dundalk, Newry, Waterford, Wexford, Kinsale, Kilkenny, and a few others, the rest can only be considered, in respect to size and population, as villages. It may be remarked, with regard to the towns of Ireland, that, with scarcely a single exception, all the places of even tolerable size and population have a near and easy communication with the sea. The chief towns in the interior arc rather venerable for their ecclesiastical an tiquity than important in themselves ; Kilkenny is an ex• ccpt ion.
Recapitulation.
Baronies. Parishes. Acres.
Ulster 53 332 Leinstcr 97 992 2.792,550 Connaught . . . 42 296 2,630,300 Munster . . . 59 816 3,377,150 From these Tables it will be seen that the largest of the provinces is Munster, and the smallest Connaught ; and that the largest county is Cork, and the smallest Louth : it may also be remarked. that Lcinster contains a far greater number of parishes in proportion to its area than any of the othet provinces, which circumstance arises from its having been first colonized and civilized by the English, and to the consequent encrease of its population : a similar effect was remarked under the statistics of England, with respect to Norfolk and some other counties in that king dom. The parishes are subdivided into townlands, and ploughlands, gneeves, cartons, &c.
The greatest elevation of the soil, or platform of Ireland, is in the Bog of Allan. This elevation does not exceed 270 feet, yet it is sufficient to give descent greatest rivers in the island. The ridge, or back-bone of Ireland, runs through this hog, dividing the waters of the Shannon from those which flow, in an easterly direction, to the Irish Channel, and southward to the shores of Munster. This elevated ground is connected with the principal mountains of Ireland, winding on the north to those of Tyrone, and on the south to those of Sleeve-Bloom and the Galtecs, and afterwards turning to the west, to the peninsula of Cor caguinny.
Ireland is by no means a mountainous country ; for though there are many hills of considerable elevation, yet neither their height, their continuity, or their number, can give it that character, compared with those countries which are generally deemed mountainous. Many parts are level, some quite flat, and many uneven, with hills of no great magnitude ; on the other hand, there are not any such low fenny flats as in Britain. According, to Dr. Beaufort, in
his Mernoir of a Mate of Ireland, the most extensive levels are about the middle of the island, where a vast plain stretches quite across from sea to sea, from the coast of Dublin to the bay of Galway, including in its extent the Bog of Allan. In general, the maritime parts, particularly the western, are more mountainous than the interior, yet the mountains are so disturbed that we find few piaccs " in which, (to use this author's expression.) the prospect is not somewhere terminated by this species of majestic scenery, forming a back ground, seldom more remote than 20 miles." The Irish mountains in general form short . lines or detached groupes, as they are in unconnected masses of different magnitudes ; in general they are of easy ascent, and admit of culture a considerable way up their sides; some of them, however, are precipitous, ter minating in cones or spires. On the west and south of the Lake of Killarney, there is a chain of considerable height; one of which, Mangerton, is, accor:ing to Kit wan, 2693 feet above the level of the sea. On the north-west of Bantry Bay, there is a small chain which stretches to the east. To the north of this is the chain of mountains called Sleevebogher and Naalcs, followed by the Gaitee moun tains; on the cast of the province of 'Munster, the moun tains of Knockandown bend in a southerly direction to the has of Dungarvon. In the interior of the province of Leinster, the Sleeve-bloom mountains -divide the King's and Queen's coutiti-s, and form a great chain ; in this pro vince also lie the Wicklow mountains, which are about 30 English miles in length, and 12 in breadth. In the south east corner of the province of Ulster are the mountains of Mourne ; one of them called Sleeve Doilaw, in the county of Down, is said by Kirwan to have an elevation of 2809 feet above the level of the sea. The centre of this county is formed of the mountains of Sleevecroob. The extreme western peninsula of Connaught, is one of the most moun tainous regions of Ireland. In the county of Mayo, there is a solitary hill, called Mount Nephin, that, accoi ding to Kirwan, is 2630 feet above the level of the sea. Creagh Patrick, in the same county, on the south-east of Clew-bay, rises to the height of 2660 feet.