he asserts have been examined by Sir Charles Lewis
Giescky, Professor of Mineralogy to the Dublin Society,
and by an eminent mineralogist from Scotland. The
Doctor adds, that indisputable evidences of coal and lead
are to be found on Mr. Young's property near Lough Eask,
and that he himself has collected some very fine amethysts
on the lands of Mr. Brooke, in the same neighbourhood.

BUNDORAN AND THE MINE IN ITS YICINITY.

During the time that Ballyshannon was our head-quarters,
we drove to Bundoran, a bathing hamlet of some note on
the eastern shore of the Bay of Donegal, about three miles
distant from that town. It is a place that we understand is
much resorted to in the bathing season, by the gentry of
the neighbouring counties, the waters being reputed strong,
and the neighbourhood well accommodated with houses and
cottages for the reception of strangers. There is also a good
shop, and an apparently comfortable Inn maintained here,
by a Mr. James Kerrigan, a wine and spirit merchant of
that place ; besides warm and cold baths, fresh and salt, for
those invalids who prefer a dip in the village near their



432 COUNTY OF DONEGAL,

warm beds, to a plunge in the ocean, and a walk or a ride,
in the open air at "an earlyjiour in the morning.

The country adjacent [to this village is said to be distin-
guished by strong indications of coal and lead, in confirm-
ation of which, we annex to this brief notice of our visit, a
report of Mr. John Hamilton, an ingenious inhabitant of
Ballyshannon, that we believe to be authentic, and deserv-
ing the attention of the commercial interest.

Bundoran, together with Ballyshannon (its neighbouring
post-town) are situated, we believe, on college lands in the
possession of Colonel Connolly, whose name we have heard
mentioned as that of a liberal landlord, and whose obvious
interest it is to give due encouragement to the embarkation
of capital in this place. Consequently we infer that any
individual or company wishing to settle here in trade, would
receive every possible measure of support from the gentle-
man just noticed.

It may not be amiss to mention, that in the opinion of
men of science who have inspected this coast, many thou-
sands of acres of land might be reclaimed from the sea
between Ballyshannon and Donegal ; and in reference to
the value of such land, it is scarcely necessary to observe
that these alluvial soils are the best in the whole island.

The following is the report which we received concerning
the mine just noticed. " About the 20th of March, 1830, a
quarter of a mile distant from the sea and from the village
of Bundoran, strong indications of a very promising descrip-
tion of coal were discovered by Serjeant Davidson, of his
Majesty's Royal Sappers and Miners, then on the survey of
Ireland at that place. From his long course of experience,
as a professional miner, in the search of coal in different
parts of Scotland and England, there is every reason to
rely on his report. From the principal mine, which he
describes as being at forty feet from the surface, in beds of
considerable thickness, much may be expected. The local
circumstances of the place afford the prospect of many
advantages in the working of such a mine. First, all the



FARMS, PEASANTRY, ETC. 433

necessary machinery could be driven by water power ; the
coals also conveyed from the mouth of the pit by boats down
the river, quarter of a mile only to the sea for shipment.
It is also most conveniently circumstanced for the supply of
the different markets on the western coast of Ireland, and
equally so, for that of the whole country in the region of
Lough Erne, as it is but five miles distant from this fine
sheet of water; and thus very strong inducements to the
embarkation of capital in this branch of trade, are here pre-
sented to the commercial interest by this apparently fruitful
mine."

" The property in which it is situated belongs to Trinity
College, Dublin, and is held by Colonel Connolly."

WATERS.

The principal waters of Donegal are those of Loughs
Foyle and Swilly, as being applicable to the more extended
purposes of foreign commerce, (but although denominated
Loughs or Lakes, they are inlets of the sea, to which the
rivers Foyle and Swilly give their tributary names) Lough
Derg, (a place famous in Ireland for the penitential pil-
grimages of the peasantry to that place) and Lough Eask
(a fine sheet of water) are next to these, for beauty and
extent; and the river Finn, and that of Foyle, which latter
verges on the county, are the most respectable rivers of the

district.

FARMS.

In the rich and level soils, these are supposed to extend
from 10 to 50 acres. In the mountain districts from 50 to
500 (including, in some instances, an unmeasured mountain
run.) The tenures are various, as in other districts. In the
mountain region the fences are generally very bad, (loose
dry stone walls, or poor bald clay ditches,) and with the
exception of gentlemens seats, the lands are generally
implanted and have a bleak appearance.

The habitations of the farmers (when interiorly inspected)
are found, in some instances, to be snug and comfortable ;

2 F



COUNTY OF DONEGAL,

but, in a much larger number, quite the reverse. The prac-
tice of collecting 1 manure and dirty water about their doors,
(instead of at THE REAR OF THEIR OFFICES, which would
be the proper place, as the manure and water of their stables
should have a fall from thence into their dung pit ; and
open sewers under the back stable walls or doors should be
made for that purpose; and to see these improvements
executed would be the proper business of an agent of health
and morals, which every Irish landlord of rank should
employ and pay ; and should also choose a man of good sense
and great humanity, for the discharge of the duties of such
an office ; as a person destitute of these essential qualifica-
tions would do evil instead of good.) This practice, we say,
is nearly as common here, as in the worst districts of
Leinster, Munster, or Connaught ; but you never see this
unclean and unwholesome custom adopted by decent farm-
ers and manufacturers in Antrim, Downshire, or Armagh,
where the sense of decency and the tone of moral feeling,
have been raised to a standard of very high respectability,
by a happy coincidence of favourable events.

PEASANTRY.

The peasantry of this county, so far as we had opportu-
nity of observing, are generally peaceable in their conduct,
and disposed to improve their circumstances by industry, if
they did but possess the- means ; but the comparative absence
of manufactures, the want of capital and knowledge to
improve their condition, and the wretched hovels in which
many of them live (and in which, in some instances, what-
ever cattle they have, herd in the same hovel with the
family) altogether promise a very slow advancement in
knowledge and in the arts of civilized life, until vigorous
efforts shall be made by the landed interest of the county to
improve their condition.

That person and property, however, are generally secure
in this county, must be a great source of comfort to the
respectable inhabitants; and under favourable circumstances ,
will prove a strong inducement to the embarkation of capital
upon the soil ; nor, with the exception of the affrays that



FARMS, PEASANTRY, ETC. 435

sometimes attend illicit distillation (a custom we believe that
under the operation of a wise policy will totally decline) did
we hear of any of those fights or factions, that, in so many
other districts of Ireland, are so injurious to the peace, and
so deeply disgraceful to the country.

CAPABILITIES OF IMPROVEMENT.

That embryo powers of production are enveloped in the
poorest and wildest tracts of uncultivated soil, which this and
many other counties on the coast of Ireland exhibit that
treatment suited to those soils is alone wanted to call forth
those powers into profitable results ; and that the produce
(for a certain series of years) of one half of any given tract
that has been effectually reclaimed (and portions of some
fine demesnes in this county are said to have been reclaimed
from barren heath) will repay with interest the improver's
outlay upon the whole, is a proposition now confidently put
forward by certain agriculturists of experience ; and which,
from the deep stake that the landed interest of those coun-
ties have in the truth of the proposition, that ought to be
searched by the light of some well known experiments, even
to the bottom.

If this doctrine be true, it holds forth a powerful induce-
ment to colonization companies, and to agriculturists of
capital, to take long leases of these mountain tracts. And
even if no such speculators should present themselves, it
ought to act as a powerful stimulus to the lords of the soil
to appropriate some proportion of their dormant capital to
the regeneration of their waste lands, seeing that, in a
course of years (if this calculation be correct) the lands which
they had effectually reclaimed, would pay them 100 per cent,
for the money thus profitably applied to the improvement
of their properties.

In an investigation of the truth or falsehood of this propo-
sition, gentlemen wishing to take lands in Donegal, might
be materially assisted by Mr. Hamilton, of St. Ernans, (who
has expended a good deal of money in this way) also Mr.



436 COUNTY OF DONEGAL,

Stewart, of Ards, Sir James Stewart, of Fort Stewart, and
divers other gentlemen in Donegal, who are said to have
expended large sums of money in reclaiming portions of
their own estates ; that is, if these gentlemen and their pre-
decessors, have indeed kept a regular dehtor and creditor
account between the land and the cash embarked in this
system of improvement, from the beginning to the end ; as
otherwise it would be totally impossible for them to furnish
a solution to a question, which requires fifteen or twenty
years experience to establish its results.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LOCAL DESCRIPTIONS.

In the progress of our partial review of this county, we
penetrated it from three different positions. First, from the
city of Londonderry ; secondly, from Strabane, in the county
of Tyrone; and thirdly, from Enniskillen, the capital of
Fermanagh. From this latter town we arrived at Bally-
shannon, and here we shall commence our local descriptions
of the county ; but previous to our entering upon an exami-
nation of this port (as a place of very great importance to
the trade of Donegal, Fermanagh, and other counties in the
region of Lough Erne) we beg to offer a few general obser-
vations upon the obvious aspect of this great peninsular (or
semi-peninsular) district, of which about two thirds are sur-
rounded by water.

Donegal, in a portrait of the north of Ireland, stands dis-
tinguished from the other counties of that province by fea-
tures peculiar to itself. It is the largest county in this pro-
vincial district. It is perhaps the most mountainous. In
proportion to its surface it is the most destitute of wood
(although parts of the south and south west of Cavan, are as
horribly bleak and ugly whose estates are they ? as any
eye desiring to do penance could possibly enjoy. ) It is the
wildest in its aspect, taken as a whole. In reference to its
population, (if we except the whisky makers and the
guagers,) it is perhaps the most civil and submissive ; and
more IRISH in its language, dress, and manners, than any



BALLYSHANNON. 437

county on the Ulster coast. Two thirds of its outline being
surrounded .by the sea, the inhabitants are distinguished by
that honest simplicity of manners, for which the people of
the coast and of a mountainous country are much more
remarkable, than the generality of those who inhabit the
rich and populous plains of the interior. Indeed so emi-
nently distinguished are the peasantry of this county for
quiet simplicity of manners, that many respectable families
residing near the coast, have declared, that even in the
winter season it was a matter of indifference to them, whe-
ther they retired to rest with their doors locked and bolted,
or without any other protection than that of Heaven and a
closed door to keep out the night air ! We have heard the
same character of the peasantry on the coast of Wexford,
and we believe it; for their good conduct and cleanly
appearance in the markets of the town of Wexford ; and the
decency and good order of their little cottages and farms,
in the baronies of Forth and Bargie, were sufficient vouchers
for the truth of this report. In other districts of the coast
of Ireland, where land is cheap, fish plenty, and sea weed
for manure very easily procured, we believe the case is not
very dissimilar. Hence we infer that the disorders by which
Ireland has been so long and so deeply disgraced, have their
origin in causes, totally distinct and separate from the
natural character of the people. To repeat these causes
here, after having dwelt so largely upon them, and upon
the rational methods of removing them, in the introduction
to this work, would be a needless trespass upon the reader
and ourselves. We proceed therefore, without farther pre-
face, to a brief description of the town of

BALLYSHANNON.

Ballyshannon is the principal sea port town on the coast
of Donegal ; and from the open communication which it
would command, were the difficulties of its bar once effectu-
ally surmounted, with the markets of the western world,
through the Atlantic ocean ; and with a large tract of coun-



438 COUNTY OF DONEGAL,

tiy in the region of Lough Erne (were the impediments to
the navigation of that Lough removed also) it hence becomes
our duty to give this town precedence of all others, in a
brief review of that county, of whose commerce it is the key,
apparently intended by Nature to unlock the treasures of
this district to England and the western world, and the trea-
sures of England and that world to it.

In this brief review, therefore, we shall first observe, that
although the imports and exports of Ballyshannon (in the
present state of its bar and of Lough Erne) are by no means
equal to those of Deny ; yet from the large tract of country
whose commerce it would command, were the obstacles to
its free communication with that tract and with the ocean,
once eflfectually removed ; we infer that the period is not far
distant, when it will outstrip the town of Derry in the march
of trade, as it is the natural key of commerce to the larger
proportion of Donegal, to the whole of Fermanagh, the
north of Cavan, part of Monaghan, part of Leitrim, and a
large proportion of Tyrone ; and therefore has a peculiar
claim to the attention of all these counties ; but more parti-
cularly to the landed interest of the two which stand fore-
most in this important list ; and we may also add, to that
of such English speculators as wish to find cheap lands
for improvement, and a noble theatre for trade, without
exposing their persons and fortunes to the risk of a long
voyage to countries beyond the line, whose inhabitants are
barbarous and bloody to unknown intruders, whose diffi-
culties in settlement must be numerous and great, and whose
civilized colonists must have much to contend with, before
the future generations of their children can be established
in the enjoyment of a profitable and peaceful commerce in
these distant lands. In an attempt to communicate to the
understandings of such as these, a rude conception of the
capabilities of this port, and of the sources from whence its
commerce should be drawn, we shall direct our attention
more particularly to two points namely, the tract of
country likely to form a theatre for the consumption of its



BALLYSHANNOX, 439

imports (when in the exercise of an unfettered trade) and
the obstacles which Nature, in connection with great adv n-
tages of water carriage, has presented to its commerce, in
the circumstances of its bar, in the few rocks which inter-
cept the navigation of Lough Erne, and in the absence of a
canal or rail road to connect the ocean with that Lough.
Nature, in her admirable economy, appears to have permit-
ted these obstacles to the trade of Ballyshannon and Ennis-
killen to exist, as a stimulus to the industry and enterprise
of the surrounding country, whose opulent inhabitants, by a
simultaneous exertion of their means, could easily subdue
them ; and the rapidly increasing wealth of whose descend-
ants, both of the landed and commercial interest, would be
the certain result. Enniskillen, we believe, as it is now
circumstanced, derives the principal part of its foreign pro-
ductions, through merchants carrying on business in the
ports of Dublin and Deny. Some individuals may import
their goods direct from England; but, in comparison of
these, the number of traders who have not this advantage,
is vastly greater ; but were the navigation of Lough Erne
perfected, arid Ballyshannon raised to the rank of a great
mart of commerce (of which it is quite capable) this inequa-
lity (between the circumstances of one, or perhaps two
opulent traders, and the rest) would be quickly removed.
Every man of small capital in the towns approximating with
Lough Erne, would then be able to procure his goods upon
the best terms and subject to the least expense ; the con-
sumer of foreign produce, living on the spot, would profit by
this advantage ; the English market (and consequently the
English prices for his surplus produce) would be open to
the Irish farmer, through his corn merchant residing on the
spot ; and the trade and growing wealth of the district (in
which divers intervening interests now too largely partici-
pate) would be concentrated within itself. As capital
increased, manufactures would grow up with commerce.
Factories would be established upon the banks of Lough
Erne, and elsewhere in the immediate neighbourhoods of



440 COUNTY OF DONEGAL,

Enniskillen and Ballyshannon (as in that of Belfast) both by
natives and strangers. The working classes (between these
improvements and the rapid regeneration of waste lauds,
which would now become increasingly valuable) would be
well employed, and well paid for their labour. Agricultural
produce would always approach very nearly to the English
standard of price, in such a commercial and manufacturing
district ; and in such a district the landlord would never want
his rent, and would always have a merchant or a banker on
the spot to negociate his bill. Lands in the vicinity of
Enniskillen and Ballyshannon, and for many miles around,
would rise rapidly in value ; and for these necessary and
not very remote effects of the improvements alluded to, we
have only to look at Belfast and Liverpool, to see every
scintilla of the truths which we here point out, fully exem-
plified. This however would have been totally impossible,
if those interested in the prosperity of these latter towns,
had not met the difficulties to be surmounted; since no
place, however favoured by Nature, is wholly free from some
obstacles to the perfection of its trade ; and yet that the
landed interests of Liverpool and Belfast (or more properly
speaking in those regions of Lancashire and Antrim that
are interested in the commerce of these towns) have as deep
a stake in the prosperity of their trade, as the merchants who
reside there (and a much more imperishable one) the superior
value of Lord Donegal's Belfast estate, and of all the lands
within six or seven miles of Liverpool, pretty clearly prove ;
while this exclusive advantage attaches to the landed inter-
est, that while the properties of many merchants may be lost
by foreign failures, and by the accidents of a treacherous
element, that of the proprietors of land, is not only impe-
rishable in its nature, but is sure of advancing in its value,
in an exact ratio with the aggregate wealth and population,
proceeding (as in Liverpool and Belfast) from a steadily
increasing commerce.

Having now closed our prefatory remarks (which may be
worthy the serious consideration of the landed interest of



BALLYSHANNON, 441

Donegal and Fermanagh) let us cast our eye over that tract
of country which Nature appears to have designed as a
theatre for the consumption of the imports of Ballyshannon,
and those of Enniskillen, through that port.

We do not forget that the IMPORTS of a mart of com-
merce must always be in an exact ratio with the consumption
and demand; that is, with the wealth and population of
the surrounding country (and to the peculiarly favourable
situation of Belfast in this particular, more than half its
prosperity may be imputed ; for it commands the trade of
counties so wealthy and respectable, that a large proportion
of its inhabitants can consume a fair proportion of every
good thing which the world produces, both foreign and
domestic) and hence the import trade of Ballyshannon,
even if no impediment to that trade existed in its bar or
neighbouring lough, would be in an exact ratio with the
wealth and population of that tract of country to which it
has been made by Nature the key of commerce.

Let us then take a view of the tract with which it is thus
physically connected.

And first, there is the county of Donegal (the largest
county in the North of Ireland) of which it is, strictly
speaking, the commercial capital. This county is certainly
inhabited, in a considerable proportion, by peasants and
farmers of the lower class, who, with the exception of
tobacco, flax-seed, and a few common dye stuffs, would
consume little that is foreign ; but then, on the other hand,
they would contribute largely to the cultivation of waste
lands, and to the produce of corn for the English and Irish
markets.

The second class, though not quite so numerous, is never-
theless very considerable both in number and importance,
considered as consumers. This is the middle class, com-
posed of the merchants, shop-keepers, rich farmers, and
gentlemen of small fortune, and they constitute in every
county, as well as in that of Donegal, not only the principal
consumers of tea, sugars, timber, and all sorts of foreign pro-



442 COUNTY OF DONEGAL,

ductions (expensive wines, silks, and trinkets excepted) but
also, without offence to the grandees, the pith and marrow
of the virtue, industry, and intellect of the country, and the
main pillars upon which the commercial temple of the
British Empire rests, as upon its own native and substantial
pedestals. The third and last class is composed of families
of fortune, who reside upon their own estates; and this
class (notwithstanding a few absentees who draw every thing
from Ireland, and give her nothing in return) very happily
for the interests of Donegal, is pretty numerous in this
county. Taking then the whole population of Donegal at
250 or 260,000 souls, the consumption of foreign produce
must be very considerable, even in this county. The next
that comes under review, as an appendage to the trade of
Ballyshannon, is that of Fermanagh ; a small county, it is
true, but possessing in proportion to its size, a more gene-
rally wealthy and respectable population than that of Done-
gal ; and, consequently, making up in some degree for its
paucity of number, by its weight of wealth; and to the
honour of this county also, most of its great proprietors (if
we may judge from what we saw) live and spend their for-
tunes on their own native soil, in the bosoms of their people,
where every father of a family ought to live, (and, to make
a momentary digression, he is not indeed the father of his
people, but a foreign tax-gatherer, who lives in a distant
country, and pays no attention to the moral and social wel-
fare of the people by whom his revenues are raised.) But
in addition to the present capability of Fermanagh for con-
suming imports, the political economist must place his eye
upon the vast increase to this capability that would neces-
sarily flow from the trade introduced into that county from
distant countries, through the port of Ballyshannon and the
waters of Lough Erne ; to say nothing of the wealth which
the factories likely to be established upon the shores of that
lough would pour into the lap of all the industrious interests.
The next counties that appear to be naturally connected
with this port and Lough, are those of Tyrone and Cavan,



BALLYSHANNON. 443

which at present receive the whole or principal part of their
foreign produce from the ports of Dublin, Newry, Deny,
and Belfast (and Fermanagh is comparatively in the same
situation) ENCUMBERED WITH INTERMEDIATE PROFITS,
and in most instances, with A HEAVY ADDITIONAL EX-