SLIGO, a maritime county in the province of Conurtught, Ireland, is bounded N. by the Atlantic Ocean and Donegal Bay ; E. by the counties of Leitrim and Roscommon ; S. by Roscommon and Mayo ; and W. by Mayo. It lies between 53° 63' and 64' 26' N lat., 8' 3' and 9' 1' W. long. Its greatest length from east to west is 41 miles, and from north to south 38 miles. The area is 721 square miles, or 461,753 acres, of which 290,696 acres are arable, 151,723 acres unoul tivated, 6134 acres in plantations, 460 acres in towns, and 12,740 acres under water. The population in 1851 was 128,510.
Coag-L int and Islands.—The coast has an irregular outline, forming several bays and natural harbours. Except in Sligo Bay and along the coast eastward from it the shore is rocky. Off that part of the coast which extends north-eastward from Sligo Bay, distant between three and four miles, is Inniemurrsy, a small island, about a mile long from east to west, which rises precipitously on every side except just at the east point. It contains about 209 acres of cultivable land, chiefly pasturage, and is inhabited by about a score of families. Two or three miles farther out to sea are the Boabinshy rocks. Sligo Bay is nearly six miles across at the entrance, and about 10 miles deep to the town of Sligo. On the south-west side of the entrance is Aughris Head, and on the north-east side is Itoskecragh Point. The bay is divided by projecting headlands into three smaller bays. The middle bay is that which leads to the town of Sligo; it is in great part occu pied by a large bank called Cummeeu Strand, but has a channel navigable to the town for vessels drawing 13 feet of water. In this bay are Covey Island, which forms a natural breakwater, and Oyster Island, on which are two lighthouses. There are extensive sands or other strands in Killala and Sligo bays, and along the coast eastward of Sligo Bay.
Sarface, Hydrography, and Communications.—From the western boundary an extensive plain stretches eastward, narrowing as it approaches Ballysadere Harbour. From the coast it rises gradually to the base of the Slieve Gatnph and Ox Mountains, the two parallel division, of a range 25 miles long by 5 or 6 miles broad which runs in a south-easterly direction from the head of Ballysadero Bay to Foxford in Mayo. The height of the range within the county varies from 600
to nearly 1800 feet. On the north-west side the hills rise into steep rocky peaks, with intervening ravines of no great depth. On the south-east side the ascent is more gradual and less rocky, and the streams are more abundant. Along this side of the range the surface between the Mayo and Leitrim boundaries exhibits a succession of valleys and hilly or undulating tracts, with occasional heights of from 300 to 700 feet. North from the Curlew Hills, which rise 863 feet on the Roscommon border, Carrowkecl Mountain has an elevation of 1062 feet ; and Keshcorran, a little to the west of it, is 1183 feet high. The Braughlieve Mountaius, which belong also to Roscommon and Leitrim, have an altitude iu this county of 1183 feet. The town of Sligo stands in ad extensive plain, which spreads eastward to the border of Leltrim, and northward to the shores of Donegal Bay. Slieve Dacane, 900 feet high, and Shish Mountain, a height of 967 feet, bohnd this plain on the south. About five miles north from Sligo the plain is broken by Truskmore, King's Mountain, and Benbulben, three heights which form part of a range that comes in from Leitrim and Fermanagh. Benhulbee, with an elevation of 1722 feet, has a gradual ascent on the south side, but the north side is nearly perpendicular. Knockuarea, a hill of similar form, with its steep side to the west, rises on the north-east shore of Baliysadere Bay to the height of 1078 feet.
The lakes of the county are mostly small, and the greater number belong partly to Leitrim and Roscommon. Lough Gill, the largest and most beautiful, extends nearly six miles eastward from the neigh bourhood of Sligo to a point just within the county of Leitrim. It has an extreme width of two miles, and is 20 feet above the level of the sea at low water. Lough Arrow and Lough Gam, the latter chiefly, and the former nearly all within the county,,,on the border of Roscommon, are nearly as large as Lough Gill; both are studded with islands, and remarkable for their picturesque scenery. Lough Easky and Lough Tait lie in the valley that separates the Slieve Ganiph and the Ox Mountains.