Mayo, 2640; Mangerton in Kerry, 2500 feet. The climate is very mild, and favourable to vegetation; hence the grain for exportation, and the numerous herds of cattle with which it supplies England and the navy.

By a recent survey, Ireland is found to contain 19,436,960 acres, English measure; of which 14,932 are cultivated, 3,500,000 waste, but susceptible of cultivation; and 1,000,000 uncultivatable, consisting of roads, lakes, rivers, and sterile ground. The most elevated part of Ireland is a curved line extending from the west of Munster to the north-east, thence through the west of Leinster, and the south and north-west of Ulster. In Connaught the greatest elevation is a straight line from the south of Galway to the north of Sligo. Ireland is also rich in minerals and metals. Lead, copper, iron, silver, coal, marble, slate, ochres, and clays, are found in all the provinces. Manganese, granite, crystals, pebbles, and garnets, in Ulster, Connaught, and Leinster; fullers' earth, sulphur, and jasper, in Ulster and Leinster; amethysts, in Ulster and Munster; antimony, in Monaghan; calcedony, in Donegal; cobalt, in Kerry; gypsum, abundant in Antrim; talc, in Carlow and Sligo; porphyry, in Dublin; pearls, in Galway and Kerry; petrifactions, in Cork and Londonderry; gold and tin, in Wicklow; pearls are found in Lough Corrib and the Lake of Killarney; silicious sand, in Donegal; steatite, in Down; serpent stone, abundant in Sligo; spar, in Clare, beautiful like that of Derbyshire.

Its exports are, yarn, live cattle, the produce of slaughtered cattle, fish, copper ore, lead ore, flax, paper, grain, and the annual amount of linen cloth exported, is estimated at 2,000,000l. of linen yarn, 500,000l. The export of corn, meal, and flour to England in 1812, was 1,641,6817.

Its imports are, coal, hemp, flax, East and West Indian produce. And the chief ports are, Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Londonderry, Limerick, Belfast, and Newry.

Belfast has a stately bridge of twenty-one arches over the Lagan the inhabitants may be almost considered a Scottish colony. This town is in the centre of the linen trade, besides which, it manufactures cotton, sail cloth, sugar, glass, and earthenware: exports chiefly to America and the West Indies.

Kilkenny is said to be the neatest town in Ireland; it

manufactures woollens and starch. This part of the kingdom produces plenty of corn, wool, and marble; has fine plantations, and is noted for its minerals, and the salubrity of the air.

Galway is eligibly situated for commerce, the salmon and herring fisheries are carried on with spirit, the manufacture of cotton goods is encouraged, and great quantities of prepared kelp exported.

Drogheda exports much grain; imports coals, and goods from England.

Wexford is large, handsome, and manufactures good. woollen; it was here that the first English colony was planted.

Kinsale is a populous and strong port, has a good trade, and is occasionally a station for the royal navy.

The export trade of Sligo is equal to that of Galway. Newry increases in trade and population, the canal communicates with Loch Neagh, and the Bay of Carlingford. Colerain has a great salmon fishery, and near it is that astonishing ridge of rocks called the Giant's Causeway.

CHAPTER IV.

SCOTLAND.

SECTION I.

THE HEBRIDES.

On the following morning as the wind had abated, and the weather appeared to be tolerably settled, our travellers embarked at Fairhead for Cantyre. They had a remarkably pleasant sail, and as they sat upon deck watching the receding columns of the Giant's Causeway, Dr. Walker briefly pointed out to his pupil the most striking features in the character of the Irish. "In their manner," said the Doctor, “among the higher classes they resemble the English in many re

spects; although it must be confessed, that there is now one striking difference between the two nations. The Irish are still given to a great excess in wine; a vice which has almost disappeared in the sister island. Hunting, and other robust exercises, occupy much of the time of the Irish gen. try; hence they enjoy an unusual flow of health and spirits; and although they possess from nature, minds of the most intelligent cast, yet, from the warmth with which they pursue their favourite sports, little time is allowed them for cultivating and improving their intellectual faculties. I am, of course, speaking generally upon this subject. There are numerous instances, in which the Irish equal, if they do not surpass, the literary character of any other nation. But for the celebrated men of this island, 1 must refer you to the Biographical Dictionary of distinguished Irishmen. The character of the people we are about to visit, I mean the Scotch, is, in most respects, totally different from that of the Irish. The peasantry are equally hardy, can endure fatigue and privations with the same unwearied patience as the Irish peasant; but they are laborious and industrious, and extremely attached to their superiors. The elder branch of the family generally inherits the whole, or at least the greater part of the family property, so that the younger parts are compelled to provide for themselves, by their own exertions. Hence the numbers that quit their country, and seek their fortunes in foreign climes. Few men are more successful in life than the Scotch; this success must be attributed not to their being Scotchmen, but to the patient and persevering diligence with which they generally pursue all their undertakings.

"Scotland can boast of many literary characters of the first class. Robertson, Hume, Blair, Beattie, Dugald Stuart, Kaimes, Jeffrey, and many others have added greatly to the stock of human knowledge; while her poets, Thomson, Walter Scott, Burns and others, have almost exhausted pleasures of imagination.

"I shall say nothing of the Highlanders, who are at' most a distinct race of beings from the Lowlanders, as we shall have many opportunities of judging of their character and manners, as we travel through their wild, romantic, and beautiful country.'

"

Upon reaching Cantyre, our travellers staid but to refresh themselves, and then hired a boat to take them to the beau

tiful Isle of Arran, having traversed the southern parts of the island, which are low and highly cultivated, they continued their journey towards the north, where the scenery becomes more picturesque. Among the mountains which adorn this part of Arran, that of Goatfell, which is 3,000 feet in height, stands conspicuous. From Arran they proceeded to the rocky isle of Bute, once so celebrated for its wood-crowned heights, which are mentioned even at so remote a period as the time of the Roman Emperors. The island has lost much of its beauty in consequence of the great quantity of timber which has been cut down very lately. The Marquis of Bute has a very fine seat here, called Mount Stewart, lying directly opposite to the Larges, where the Spanish Armada was wrecked. The capital, Rothsay, gives the title of Duke of Rothsay to the eldest sons of the kings of Great Britain. From Rothsay they embarked for Dumbarton in order to take a survey of the beautiful Loch Lomond.

The first view of it from Tarbat, presents some extensive serpentine winding, amidst lofty hills: on the north, barren, black and rocky, which darken with their shade that contracted part of the water. Near this gloomy tract, beneath the craig Roston, was the principal seat of the M'Gregors, who, for a massacre of the Colquhouns, or Cahouns, were proscribed and hunted down like wild beasts; their very name was suppressed by act of Council; so that the remnant, now dispersed like Jews, dare not even sign to any deed. Their posterity are still said to be distinguished among the clans in which they have incorporated themselves, not only by the redness of the hair, but by their still retaining the mischievous disposition of their ancestors.

On the east sides, the mountains are equally high, but the tops form a more even ridge, parallel to the lake, except where Ben Lomond overtops the rest. The upper parts are black and barren; the lower exhibit the rich tints of cultivation. The eastern boundary is part of the Grampian hills, which take their name from a single hill, the Mons Grampius of Tacitus, where Galgacus waited the approach of Agricola, and where the battle was fought so fatal to the brave Caledonians. Antiquarians have not agreed upon the particular spot, but it is by some placed near Comrie, at the upper end of Strathern, at a place to this day called Galgachan Moor.

On passing the point of Fiskin, an expanse of water bursts upon the sight, varied with all the softer beauties of nature, and presents a fine contrast to that on the east, where the Grampian hills present a bold and rugged outline. Immediately is a flat, covered with wood and corn; beyond, the headlands stretch far into the water, and consist of gentle risings; many have their surfaces covered with wood, others adorned with trees, loosely scattered over a brilliant verdure, or the more sombre, but not less pleasing, hue of the purple heath. Numbers of islands are dispersed over the lake of the same elevated nature as the little capes, and wooded in the same manner: others just peep above the surface, and are tufted with trees; and numbers are so disposed as to form magnificent vistas.

Opposite Luss, where is the seat of the Colquhouns, at a small distance from shore, is a mountainous isle, almost covered with wood; it is nearly half a mile long, and has a most fine -effect. There are somewhat about twenty-eight islands in the lake, some of which are well stocked with deer.

The length of this beautiful Lake, is twenty-four miles, and its greatest breadth eight; its greatest depth, which is between the point of Fiskin and Ben Lomond, is a hundred and twenty fathoms. Our travellers having leisure, rode to the eminence of Millegs, to see the rich prospect between Loch Lomond and the Clyde. One way is seen the beautiful lake, Ben Lomond, and the vast mountains above Glen Crow. On the other hand appears a fine reach of the Clyde, enlivened with shipping, a view of the romantic and beautiful seats of Roseneath, and Ardin-chapel, and the busy towns of Port Glasgow and Greenock.

"The Grampian Hills," said Dr. Walker, " may be considered as a grand frontier chain, extending from Loch Lomond to Stonehaven, forming pretty nearly the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands; though four or five counties, on the north-east of that chain, have in their northern and eastern parts the advantages and names of Lowlands. The mountainous tract of the Highlands, comprehends the counties of Bute, Argyle, Inverness, Nairne, Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness, and the Hebrides; together with part of Dumbartonshire, Morayshire, Barffshire, Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire, Angus-shire, and Perthshire. Population about 250,000. The language is Gaelic or Erse. The rest of Scotland is called the Low.