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A28496	Irelands naturall history being a true and ample description of its situation, greatness, shape, and nature, of its hills, woods, heaths, bogs, of its fruitfull parts, and profitable grounds : with the severall ways of manuring and improving the same : with its heads or promontories, harbours, roads, and bays, of its springs, and fountains, brooks, rivers, loghs, of its metalls, mineralls, free-stone, marble, sea-coal, turf, and other things that are taken out of the ground : and lastly of the nature and temperature of its air and season, and what diseases it is free from or subject unto : conducing to the advancement of navigation, husbandry, and other profitable arts and professions / written by Gerald Boate ; and now published by Samuell Hartlib for the common good of Ireland and more especially for the benefit of the adventurers and planters therein.	Boate, Gerard, 1604-1650.; Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662.	1657 (1657)	Wing B3373; ESTC R27215	105,129	208

the ordures of the streets are under ground conveyed into the City ditch passeth under the yard where-in the said Well dammed up since this sad accident did stand so as it may bee probably beleeved that that deadly infection of the air within the same Well had partly been caused through the neerness of the same sewer CHAP. XIX Of the Free-stone Marble Flints Slate and Seacoles which are found in Ireland Sect. 1. Of the Free-stone HAving in the precedent Chapters treated of the Metals and Minerals which are found in Ireland we shall now go on to speak of severall other substances raised out of the ground there of a less noble nature but nevertheless profitable and serving for severall good uses To begin with Free-stone there is two sorts of it the one being gray or ash-coloured and the other blew which both for the most part lying in the uppermost parts of the ground covered over with very little earth are raised with small labour and charge whereas in most other countries it is as much labour to digge Free-stone as the metalls themselves The blew Free-stone is not very abundant and as little in request as unfit for great buildings it lying for the most part in small unshapely peeces and when they are bigger commonly broke in the raising and hewing partly through the unskilfullness of the workmen there and chiefly because they are exceeding hard and cannot well endure the Iron The gray free-stone which is found very abundantly in most parts of the land is of a contrary nature and may easily be cut out into stones of all bigness or fashion wherefore also this sort hath been used by the English to all the Churches Castles and Edifices which since the Conquest have been builded by them For the Irish themselves never had the skill nor industry to erect any considerable buildings of Free-stone Brick or other the like materials their dwellings being very poor and contemptible cottages True it is that the English at their first comming found several Maritine-townes in Ireland with stone-walls and houses the Churches also not onely in those but in many other Towns being of the same But built by strangers who being come out of the Northern parts of Germany and other neighbouring Countries had setled themselves there inhabiting severall parts of the Sea-coasts some Ages before the English-Conquest which people called themselves Oastmans or Easterlings all those Countries of the which they were come being situated to the East of Ireland Sect. 2. Certain evill properties of the Irish Free-stone This sort of Gray Fre●-stone in Ireland hath a bad qualitie that it draweth the moysture of the air continually to it and so becommeth dank and wet both in and out-side especially in times of much rain To mend this inconvenience the English did wainscot those walls with oak or other boards or line them with a thin crust of brick Sect 3. Of the Marble Besides the Free-stone which is almost in every part of the land there is Marble found in many places of severall sorts one is red straked with white and other colours such as with a peculiar name is called Porphyre other black very curiously straked with white and some all of one colour The first two sorts are found but in smal quantity especially the second But the last is very abundant in some places but most about Kilkenny where not onely many houses are built of the same but whole streets are paved with it Sect. 4. Description of the Marble-quarrie at Kilkenny The Quarrie out of which they have their Marble at Kilkenney is not above a quarter of a mile distant from the Town and belongeth to no body in particular lying in common for all the Townsmen who at any time may fetch as much out of it as seemeth good unto them without paying any thing for it It is in fashion like unto Quarries of Free-stone to wit a wide open pit whereout stones and pillars of great thickness and height may be digged This Marble whilst it is rude and as it cometh out of the ground looketh grayish but being polished it getteth a fine blewish colour drawing somwhat towards the black Sect. 5. Of the Flint Although Flints are not digged from under the ground yet shall we give them a place next to the Free-stone and Marble because of the affinity which they have with them They are found in every part of Ireland in great abundance near the sea-side within the land upon the hils and mountains and in the rivers many of which have not onely their banks covered with them but also the bottom of their chanels and that for great spaces togeth●r which as they are o● all sizes and fashions so of very different colours Sect. 6. Of the Slate In sundry parts of Ireland Slate is found in great abundance and that nothing deep within the ground just in the same manner as the Free-stone so as it may be raised with little charge and labour wherefore at all times it hath been much used by the English inhabitants for the covering of their houses and other buildings Nevertheless some years since in places near the sea especially at Dublin that kind of Holland Tiles which by them are called Pannen begun to be used generally the Merchants causing them to be brought in from thence in great abundance because in Ireland they had neither convenient stuff to make them of nor work-men skilfull in that business although the common Tiles usual in many parts of England and other Countries were made and used in several places within the land Besides these there was another kind of covering in use both for Churches and houses to wit a certain sort of woodden Tiles vulgarly called Shingles the which are thight enough at the first but do not many yeares continue so it being necessary to change them often which thing properly not appertaining to this Chapter we nevertheless for affinities sake have thought not amiss here to mention Some yeares ago another kind of Slate hath been discovered in Ireland which for the colours-sake is called Black-slate being of a blackish colour which is come into great esteem not so much for the ordinary use of covering houses for which they are no better than common Slate but because it hath been found by experience very good and medicinall against severall diseases especially to stay all kind of bleeding and to hinder that after falls and bruises the blood do not congeal within the body Sect. 7. Of the Sea-coal The Trees and Woods having been so much destroyed in Ireland as heretofore we have shewed and consequently wood for firing being very dear in great part of the land the inhabitants are necessitated to make use of other fuel viz. of Turf and of Sea-coals Of the Turf we shall speak in the next Chapter As for Sea-coals they are the ordinary firing in Dublin in other places lying near the sea where the same in time of peace are brought in out of

tast in which properties nevertheless and in the wholsomness of the water the same differences are found and for the same causes as in other countries For those which spring out of a gravelly or sandy ground are purer than those that spring out of earth or clay those that rise out of a stony or Rocky ground cooler than any of the former those that are exposed to the Sun and freely receive the Bea●● thereof especially of the morning sun have lighter and wholsomer water although less cool than those which are contrarily seated and so for the rest Sect. 2. Spaes and Holy-wels in Ireland A few yeares since some Fountains have been discovered in Ireland some of them not far from Dublin and others in other parts whose veines running through certain Minerals and washing off the vertue of the same yeeld a Medicinall water apt to open the obstructions of mans body and to cure other accidents thereof which kind of Fountains are commonly called Spaes a name borrowed of a certain village in the country of Liege in which there is a Spring of that sort absolutely the principallest and the most effectuall of all those of the same kind and therefore of very great renown in near and in far countries Besides these Spaes there are also a great number of other Fountains throughout all the Land called Holy-wels by the inhabitants whose water not differing from that of other Wels in smell tast or in any other sensible quality neverthelese is beleeved to be effectuall for the curing of severall diseases But experience doth shew that those vertues are not found in the Springs themselves but onely in the vain imagination of the superstitious people the which also having dedicated every one of those to some particular Saint do expect the supposed vertue rather from the power of them than from any naturall efficaciousness inherent in the water it self Sect. 3. Of the fabulous Fountains of Giraldus Cambrensis As for those wonderfull Springs mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis One in Munster whose water presently maketh them gray that wash their head or beard therewith One in Ulster of quite contrary vertue so that the persons washed therewith never come to be gray One in Connaught whose water good and commodious for the drinking and other uses of men is hurtfull yea deadly to cattle sheep horses and all other sorts of beasts And yet another in the same Province the which being on the top of a high hill far from the sea side ebbeth and floweth twice a day in the same manner as the sea I could not hitherto come to the speech of any who in our times had seen those Fountains or observed any such thing in them Which maketh mee doubt that that good man hath been deceived herein by his credulity as in innumerable other things the which being evidently untrue and fictitious are by him related for certain truths As in this matter who seeth not the idleness of that fiction concerning a certain Fountain in Munster whereof he writeth that as soon as any body doth touch it or but look at it it beginneth presently to rain most heavily over all the Province and continueth so to do untill a certain Priest appointed for that purpose and who hath never lost his Maiden-head do appease the Fountain in singing a Mass in a Chappel standing not far from thence and built expresly for that end and in be sprinkling the same Fountain with Holy-water and with the Milk of a Cow of one colour Sect. 4. Of the Brooks in Ireland No country in the world is fuller of Brooks than Ireland where the same be numberless water all the parts of the land on all sides They take their beginning three severall manner of waies Some have their source of Fountains the which for the most part are very small not only those who carry the water but of one spring most of which are rather like unto a gutter than a brook but even those into which the water of severall fountains doth flow together Others rise out of Bogs the which besides their own universall wetness being full of springs and by reason thereof gathering in them more water than they are able to drink in or contain doe necessarily send out the same in convenient places and so give a beginning unto Rivelets and Brooks The third sort take their beginning out of certain small Loughs which brooks ordinarily are of a reasonable bignes and farre surpasse the other two sorts although there doe not want some even of this kind which are very little And there is very few of any of these kinds who come to any notable bignes as long as they continue to be solitary and untill having received the water of severall other Brooks doe thereby grow more considerable than they were in their first originall These Brooks besids the great good they do the land in watering the same besides the commodity they afford of drenching the Cattle other Beasts do also greatly serve the inhabitants for another good use to wit the grinding of their corn wherunto the Windmils are very little used in Ireland because they have the conveniency through the great number of Brooks to erect watermills in every quarter where it is necessary which bring a great profit to the owners being kept and maintained with less cost and labour Sect. 5. Of the swelling and overflowing of the Brooks Some of the Brooks doe flow in an equall bigness all the year long without receiving any notable increase or diminishing but far the major part doe change according to the wet or dry seasons of the ye●r and as many of them as come out of the mountaines or run thorough hilly countries swell so excessively when any great rain doth fall that they not only overflow the next low grounds doing many times great damage in them but also bring the wafering men into great distresse for it cometh to passe very oft that a brook which ordinarily is very shallow and still riseth so mightily through the multitude of the rain water which from the next mountains and hills descendeth into it that a good horse cannot passe without swimming where at other times a child easily may wade over and with that adundance of water is commonly joined so strong and impetuous a current that man and horse are often caried away with it to their extreme danger and what soever wee say here-in of the Brooks is much more to bee understood of the Rivers the which otherwise in convenient places or foards may be passed over wherein the aforesaid danger is greater yet so that few yeares passe in Ireland in the which some persons are not drowned in that fashion Sect. 6. Strange invention of a man to pass a Brook greatly risen by the abundance of rain It shall not be improper to insert here a particular observed by a very credible and reverend person Theophilus Buckwort Bishop of Dremore the which he hath severall times related to

our Saviour a eleven hundred seventy and one But the English having setled themselves in the land did by degrees greatly diminish the Woods in all the places where they were masters partly to deprive the Theeves and Rogues who used to lurk in the Woods in great numbers of their refuge and starting-holes and partly to gain the greater scope of profitable lands For the trees being cut down the roots stubbed up and the land used and tilled according to exigency the Woods in most part of Ireland may be reduced not only to very good Pastures but also to excellent Arable and Meddow Through these two causes it is come to pass in the space of many years yea of some Ages that a great part of the Woods which the English found in Ireland at their first arrival there are quite destroyed so as nothing at all remaineth of them at this time Sect. 3. Diminishing of the Woods during the last Peace And even since the subduing of the last great Rebellion of the Irish before this under the conduct of the Earl of Tirone overthrown in the last yeares of Queen Elizabeth by her Viceroy Sir Charles Blunt Lord Mountjoy and afterwards Earl of Devonshire and during this last Peace of about forty years the longest that Ireland ever enjoyed both before and since the comming in of the English the remaining Woods have very much been diminished and in sundry places quite destroyed partly for the reason last mentioned and partly for the wood and timber it self not for the ordinary uses of building and firing the which ever having been afoot are not very considerable in regard of what now we speak of but to make merchandise of and for the making of Charcoal for the Iron-works As for the first I have not heard that great timber hath ever been used to be sent out of Ireland in any great quantity nor in any ordinary way of Traffick but onely Pipe-staves and the like of which good store hath been used to be made and sent out of the Land even in former times but never in that vast quantity nor so constantly as of late years and during the last Peace wherein it was grown one of the ordinary merchandable commodities of the country so as a mighty Trade was driven in them and whole ship-loads sent into forrein countries yearly which as it brought great profit to the proprietaries so the felling of so many thousands of trees every year as were employed that way did make a great destruction of the Woods in tract of time As for the Charcoal it is incredible what quantity thereof is consumed by one Iron-work in a year and whereas there was never an Iron-work in Ireland before there hath been a very great number of them erected since the last Peace in sundry parts of every Province the which to furnish constantly with Charcoales it was necessary from time to time to fell an infinite number of trees all the lopings and windfals being not sufficient for it in the least manner Sect. 4. Great part of Ireland very bare of Woods at this time Through the aforesayd causes Ireland hath been made so bare of Woods in many parts that the inhabitants do not onely want wood for firing being therefore constrained to make shift with turf or sea-coal where they are not too far from the sea but even timber for building so as they are necessitated to fetch it a good way off to their great charges especially in places where it must be brought by land And in some parts you many travell whole dayes long without seeing any woods or trees except a few about Gentlemens houses as namely from Dublin and from places that are some miles further to the South of it to Tredagh Dundalk the Nurie and as far as Dremore in which whole extent of land being above threescore miles one doth not come near any woods worth the speaking of and in some parts thereof you shall not see so much as one tree in many miles For the great Woods which the Maps doe represent unto us upon the Mountains between Dundalk and the Nury are quite vanished there being nothing left of them these many years since but one only tree standing close by the highway at the very top of one of the Mountains so as it may be seen a great way off and therefore serveth travellers for a mark Section 5. Many great Woods still left in Ireland Yet notwithstanding the great destruction of the Woods in Ireland occasioned by the aforesayd causes there are still sundry great Woods remaining and that not onely in the other Provinces but even in Leinster it self For the County of Wickloe Kings-county and Queens-county all three in that Province are throughout full of Woods some whereof are many miles long and broad And part of the Counties of Wexford and Carloe are likewise greatly furnished with them In Ulster there be great Forrests in the County of Donegall and in the North-part of Tirone in the Country called Glankankin Also in the County of Fermanagh along Lough-Earne in the County of Antrim and in the North-part of the County of Down in the two Countries called Killulta and Kilwarlin besides severall other lesser Woods in sundry parts of that Province But the County of Louth and far the greatest part of the Countys of Down Armagh Monaghan and Cavan all in the same Province of Ulster are almost every where bare not onely of Woods but of all sorts of Trees even in places which in the beginning of this present Age in the War with Tirone were encumbred with great and thick Forrests In Munster where the English especially the Earl of Cork have made great havock of the Woods during the last Peace there be still sundry great Forests remaining in the Counties of Kerry and of Tipperary and even in the County of Cork where the greatest destruction therof hath bin made some great Woods are yet remaining there being also store of scattered Woods both in that County and all the Province over Connaught is well stored with trees in most parts but hath very few Forests or great Woods except in the Counties of Maio and Sligo CHAP. XVI Of the Mines in Ireland and in particular of the Iron-mines Sect. 1. All the Mines in Ireland discovered by the New-English THe Old-English in Ireland that is those who are come in from the time of the first Conquest untill the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign have been so plagued with Wars from time to time one while intestine among themselves and another while with the Irish that they could scarce ever find the opportunity of seeking for Mines and searching out the Metals hidden in the bowels of the Earth And the Irish themselves as being one of the most barbarous Nations of the whole earth have at all times been so far from seeking out any that even in these last years and since the English have begun to discover some none of them all great nor small

For else one would run great hazard to sustain great losses and to have all spoyled But those that are vigilant and carefull and that lose no occasion at all do commonly in the end get in their increase well enough notwithstanding all those great hinderances so that there be as few years of dearth in Ireland as in any other Country of Christendom and most years there is not only Corn enough got for the sustenance of the Inhabitants but a great deal over and above for the sending out of great quantities of Grains into other countries Sect. 4. Of the fair weather in the latter end of Autumn In the foul weather the nights are often fair In the latter end of Autumn weather is commonly fair again for some weeks together in the same manner as in the Spring but not so long which as it doth serve for to dry up and to get in the Corn and Hay which till then hath remained in the fields the too much wet having hindered it from being brought away sooner so it giveth the opportunity of plowing the ground and sowing the Winter-corn the which otherwise would very hardly be done For that season being once past you have very little dry weather the rest of the Autumn and during all Winter And although it doth seldom rain continually for many dayes together yet is the wetness very great and few weeks doe pass wherein are not two or three rainy dayes And it is to be observed that ordinarily it raineth in Ireland much more by day than by night and that many times when it doth rain two or three dayes together the nights between are very clear and fair the which also many times falleth out in other foul weather and when all day long the Skie is overcast with Clouds and Mists Sect. 5. Some dry Summers in Ireland but hardly ever any too dry But although it is ordinarily thus in Ireland yet the same inconstancy and variablenes of years and seasons which is observed in most other Countries doth also here occur and that more in regard of the Summers dry weather than of the Winters and cold For it is marvellous seldom to have there a hard Winter and long ●rost but Summers have been which were ful of very dry and fair and pleasant weather But as Winters cruelly cold so likewise over-dry Summers do in this Iland hardly come once in an Age And it is a common saying in Ireland that the very dryest Summers there never hurt the land For although the Corn and Grass upon the high and dry grounds may get harm nevertheless the Country in generall gets more good than hurt by it And when any dearths fall out to be in Ireland they are not caused through immoderate heat and drought as in most other Countries but through too much wet and excessive rain Sect. 6. Amendment of the wet Air in Ireland how to be expected So that the Irish-air is greatly defectuous in this part and too much subject to wet and rainy weather wherein if it were of somewhat a better temperature and as free from too much wet as it is from excessive cold it would be one of the sweetest and pleasantest in the whole world and very few Countries could be named that might be compared with Ireland for agreeable temperateness And although it is unlikely that any revolution of times will produce any considerable alteration in this the which indeed in some other Countries hath caused wonderfull changes because that those who many Ages ago have written of this Iland doe witness the self same things of it in this particular as wee doe find in our time There is nevertheless great probability that this defect may in part be amended by the industry of men if the country being once inhabited throughout by a civill Nation care were taken every where to diminish and take away the superfluous and excessive wetness of the ground in all the watery and boggy places whereby this too great moystness of the Air is greatly increased and partly also occasiond This opinion is not grounded upon some uncertain speculation but upon assured experience for severall knowing and credible persons have affirmed to me that already some yeares since good beginnings have been seen of it and that in some parts of the land well inhabited with English and where great extents of Bogs have been drained and reduced to dry land it hath been found by the observation of some years one after another that they have had a dryer air and much less troubled with rain than in former times Herewith agreeth what we read in that famous Writer Pliny in the fourth Chapter of the seventeenth Book of his Naturall History concerning that part of Macedonie wherein the City Philippi was seated where the Air formerly having been very rainie was greatly amended by the altering the wetness of the ground His words are these Circa Philippos cultura siccata regio mutavit coeli habitum That is word for word The Country about Philippi being dryed up through tillage hath altered the quality of the Air. CHAP. XXII Of the Dew Mist Snow Hail Hoar-frost Thunder and Lightning Earthquake and Winds Sect. 1. Of the Dew THe Naturalists and Geographers do assure us that it deweth exceedingly in the hot and dry Countries and that the less it useth to rain in a Country the Dew doth fall there the more ●bundantly whereby it should seem to follow that in the wet climate it deweth very little and consequently that in Ireland where it raineth so very much the Dew must be very scanty But there is as much Dew there as in other Countries that are a great deal hotter and dryer Onely thus much experience doth shew in Ireland and it may be as well in other Countries whereof I have not yet informed my self that when it is towards any great rain little or no Dew doth fall so as in those times going forth early in the morning into the green fields you will finde them altogether dry and that even in that season wherein the Dew in Ireland as in other neighbouring Countries useth to fall more abundantly than in any other time of the year to wit in the moneths of May and June This is a certain sign to the inhabitants that great rain is to fall suddenly and commonly after such a dry and dewless night it useth to rain two or three days together But the preceding rain doth not hinder the Dew in that manner as that which is imminent and it is found ordinarily that in a clear night follovving a rainy day the which is very ordinary as we have sayd in the preceding Chapter the Dew commeth down as liberally as if it had not rained the day before Sect. 2. Of May-dew and the manner of gathering and preserving it The English women and Gentlewomen in Ireland as in England did use in the beginning of the Summer to gather good store of Dew to keep it by them all the year after

so in a manner doe meet the Sure who falleth into the other arm For which consideration these three Rivers were wont to be called the three Sisters as Giraldus witnesseth Both the Oure and the Barrow are portable many miles into the country the Oure onely with little Boats and with Cots they call in Ireland Cots things like Boats but very unshapely being nothing but square peeces of timber made hollow but the Barrow with good big Boats The Slane falleth into the Haven of VVexford being like unto the Oure for length and bigness Sect. 3. Of the Liffie and the Boine The Liffie is the Princess of the Irish-Rivers not for her bigness for not only the Shanon but the Boine Barrow and severall others do far surpass her therein but because Dublin the chief City of all Ireland is seated upon her banks a mile below which City at a place called Rings-end she loseth her self in a Bay of the Sea which is called Dublin-haven With the help of the Flood ships of fifty and threescore tuns can make a shift to come up to the Key of Dublin but when the Tide is out and at the lowest the smallest boats find hardly water enough to go between Dublin and Rings-end because the chanel being very broad there the water spreadeth it self too much and by reason thereof groweth very shallow But in the City it self where she is inclosed betwixt the Keys on both sides and from the bridge of Dublin untill the bridge of Kilmanan and a little further being somewhat more than a mile in which space she runneth between her own banks great boates may goe upon her at any time She would be navigable with boats some three or four miles further but the Weres made in her a little way above the bridge of Kilmanan doe hinder that This River taketh her beginning in the mountaines lying to the South of Dublin not above ten miles from it but fetcheth such a compass bending her coast first to the West afterwards to the North and lastly for seven or eight miles Eastward that from her originall to her mouth is the space of no less than forty or fifty miles The Boine the River where-on Tredagh is seated hath her beginning in Kings County close by the originall of the Barrow although the place where the Barrow falleth into the haven of Waterford is above fourscore miles distant from the mouth of the Boine This River is almost of an equall bigness in farre the greatest part of her course and would be portable of good bigg boates very many miles into the land if that were not hindred by the Weres Sect. 4. Of the Band and Blackwater The principall River in Vlster of those that fall directly into the Sea is the Band the which as in her mouth she is incumbred with severall inconvenients as wee have declared above in the third chapter so she is portable but a few miles from the Sea because of a certain Rock the which running across the chanel from the one bank to the other stoppeth all manner of passage not only of bigger vessels and barks but of the smallest boates which dare not come neer the same Rock because it being somewhat high and the water from it falling downwards with great violence it goeth for some space with a mighty current This Rock or Cataract called vulgarly the Salmon-leap for a reason hereafter to be declared and the Fall because of the falling down of the water is not above four miles from the Sea hindring all manner of communication between the same and Lough Neaugh from the which this Cataract is distant about three miles whereas otherwise if the passage of this River from the sea to the Lough were open ships might by that meanes goe a great way into the land not only the whole length and breadth of Lough Neaugh which every where is very deep and navigable even for great ships but even a good many miles farther with good big boates by meanes of some Rivers that fall into it especially the Black-water which is the principallest of them all For the Band although she giveth the name to the River going out of the Lough is not comparable to the Black-water for breadth nor depth beeing rather a brook than a River the which being very shallow at other times doth rise so excessively upon the falling of much rain that it is one of the most dangerous and terrible brookes of all Ireland in the which therefore from time to time many men and horses have been drowned at the passing of it Sect. 5. Of the Lagon and Nury-water tide-rivers Besides the Band and the Black-water there is scarce any other River in Vlster but that which passing by Strebane and London-derrie dischargeth it self into Lough-foile For the Lagon hereto●ore mentioned by us which by Belfast falleth into the Sea the Nury-water whereof wee have spoken in the description of Carlingford-haven and some others of that nature are properly brooks and not portable by reason of their own water but of that which out of the Sea floweth into them as appeareth clearly when the tide is out For then they are as small and as little portable in those places where the boates and bigger vessels doe pass at high water as are they at all times in those places unto which the tide doth never reach which kind of Tide-rivers or brooks which only by the comming in of the tide are made navigable for a little way are to be found in all the Provinces of Ireland Sect. 6. Of the Cataracts in the Irish Rivers Besides that the navigable Rivers are but rare in Ireland and that the most part of them are only portable of very small vessels and boats not of any bigger ships or barks as appeareth by the former relation there be very few rivers who have not some impediment or other in them whereby it commeth that they are not portable so farre as otherwise they would be These impediments are chiefly three in number Cataracts Weres and Foards whereof the last two doe only concern the lesser Rivers The first to wit the Cataracts are incident to the greatest Rivers as well as to others as may appear by what wee have said concerning them in the description of the Shanon and the Band whereby also fully may be conceived the manner and nature of the said Cataracts so as it is needless here again to delineate them Such a Cataract or Fall there is found in the Liffie seven miles from Dublin and about a quarter of a mile above the village and Castle of Leslip the description of which as holding it not improper for this place wee shall here set down as it came to our hands from those who have observed it very exactly The said River running there abouts along a narrow and deep valley being hemmed in at both sides with high hils of a long continuance hath a very Rockie chanel and besides that the bottom is overspread in severall parts with

was made to beleeve that St Patrick by whome the Irish were converted to the Christian-faith about four hundred yeares after the nativity of Christ had caused the same and obtained it of God by his prayers to convince the unbeleevers of of the immortality of the soul and of the torments which after this life are prepared for the wicked persons wherefore also they gave it the name of St Patricks Purgatorie But it is very certain that nothing of it was known in Ireland during the life of that holy person nor in a huge while after it having been devised some Ages after his death when that the general darkness of the times ministred a great opportunity of such like inventions to those kind of men that knew how to abuse the blind devotion of ignorant and superstitious people to their own profit and filthy lucre Sect. 7. Of the property of Lough-Neaugh of turning Wood into Stone Before we make an end of this Chapter we must say something of the wonderful property which generally is ascribed to Lough-Neaugh of turning Wood into Stone whereunto some do adde to double the wonder that the Wood is turned not only into Stone but into Iron and that a branch or pole being stuck into the ground somewhere by the side where it is not too deep after a certain space of time one shall find that peece of the stick which stuck in the ground turned into Iron and the middle as far as it was in the water into Stone the upper-end which remained above the water keeping its former nature But this part of the History I beleeve to be a Fable For my Brother who hath been several times in places not far distant from that Lough and who of the English there abouts inhabiting hath enquired this business with singular diligence doth assure me that he never could learn any such thing but that the turning of Wood into Stone was by every one beleeved for certain as having been tryed divers times by severall persons saying moreover to have understood of them that the water hath this vertue onely at the sides and that not every where but onely in some few places especially about that part where the River Blackwater dischargeth her self into the Lough He could never come to speak with any persons who themselves had tryed this matter but with severall who affirmed that to their knowledge it had certainly been done by others of their acquaintance For further confirmation of this particular which in it self is credible enough seeing that in many parts of the world there are found waters indued with that vertue serveth that here and there upon the borders of that Lough are found little stones of a pretty length some of them round in their compass others flat or flattish and some angulous the which being looked on as well near as from afar off seem to be nothing else but Wood and by every one are taken for such untill one come to touch and handle them for then by their coldness hardness and weight it appeareth that they are not Wood but Stone Whereby it may probably be conjectured that the same formerly having been Wood indeed and so having kept their old shape and fashion in length of time have been turned into a stony substance by the vertue of that water wherinto they were fallen through the one accident or other Giraldus writeth to have heard of a Well or Fountain in the North-quarters of Ulster the which in seven years space turneth into Stone the Wood cast into it But seeing that no body now adayes knoweth of any such Well and that with all my enquires I could never come to hear any news of it I will beleeve that Giraldus hath been mis-informed and that they have told him that of a Well which was proper unto this Lough CHAP. X. Of the nature and condition of the Land both for the outward shape and for the internall qualities and fruitfulness Sect. 1. Distinction of Ireland into Champain-Lands Hils and Mountains THe Lands of this Iland as of most all other Countryes are of a various kind fashion For some parts are goodly plain Champain others are Hilly some Mountainous and others are composed of two of these sorts or of all three together and that with great variety the which also is very great in those three un-compounded sorts Sect. 2. A necessary observation about the use of the words Hill and Mountain To avoyd all ambiguity and make our selves cleerly understood in what wee have sayd and are further to say upon this subject wee think it necessary to forewarn our Reader that we do use the word Hill in a narrower signification than what is given to it in the ordinary use of speech For whereas all or most other Languages both those which are now in vulgar use and those which are only preserved in books have two severall words for to signifie those observable heights which appear above the ground calling the bigger sort by one name and the lesser sort by another The English language useth one and the same word for both calling hils aswell the one as the other without any other distinction but that sometimes the word small or great is added Now because this word so indifferently used would cause some confusion in the matter we treat of that hath made us restrain it to one of the sorts and to call hils onely the lesser sort called in Latin collis in French colline in Dutch heuvel and in Irish knock As for the other and bigger sort whose name in the aforesayd four Languages is mons mountain berg slew we call them mountains which word mountains although it be good English yet in common speech it is seldom made use of in that sense whereunto we apply it but only to signifie a Country wholly consisting of those great Hils especially when the soyl thereof is lean and unfruitfull Sect. 3. Of the Mountains of Ireland and first of the lower sort The difference betwixt Hils and Mountaines consisting in bigness is of two sorts for in the number of Mountains are counted not only those which lift up themselves very high into the air so as they may be seen many miles off but also those the which take up the more in length and breadth what is wanting to them in height ascending slopinly by degrees The Mountainous parts of Ireland do for the most part consist of this second part of Mountains most of them in one quarter being much-what of the same height so as sometimes one shall ride some houres together through the Mountainous country without meeting with any one Mountain that greatly excelleth in height above the rest The which in particular may be observed in the Mountainous Country of the Fuse betwixt Dundalk and Armagh In that of Mourne betwixt the Nurie and Dondrom each of those two being above twelve miles long In all that space which is betwixt Kelles a walled-town in the County of Eastmeath and

Kilacollie alias Bailieborrough in the County of Cavan vvhich being ten miles long is almost nothing else but a continuance of hils of no great bigness all very fruitfull land both Pasture and Arable In the County of Westmeath from Lough-Crevv to Lough-Sillon and beyond it as far as Ballaneach vvhere Mr William Fleving had built a fair house and Farm ten yeares before the late detestable Massacre and bloody Rebellion of the Irish. These hils are for the most part lovv and small yet some of a good height and bigness the ground lean in many places very stony in some rocky not of any one continuall Rock but-by peecemeals here and there rising and appearing Yet are these hils in severall places wet and moorish aswell in the Rockie as other parts These hills serve only for pasture of sheep In the major part of the Mountainous country of Wickloe the which beginning five miles to the South of Dublin doth extend it self above fiftie miles in length and in severall other parts It hath bin observed in many parts of Ireland but chieflie in the county of Meath and further North-ward that upon the top of the great hills and mountaines not onely at the side and foot of them to this day the ground is uneven as if it had been plowed in former times The inhabitants doe affirm that their fore-fathers being much given to tillage contrarie to what they are now used to turn all to plow-land Others say that it was done for want of arable because the Champain was most every where beset and over spread with woods which by degrees are destroyed by the warres They say further that in those times in places where nothing now is to be seen but great loggs of a vast extent there were thick woods which they collect from hence that now then trees are digged out there being for the most part some yards long and some of a very great bignes and length Sect. 4. Of the higher sort of Mountaines in Ireland As for those other mountains the which with an excessive height rise up towards the Skies they are not very common in Ireland and yet some there be which although not comparable with the Pyrenaei lying between France and Spain with the Alpes which divide Italy from France and Germany or with other mountains of the like vast height nevertheless may iustly be counted among the lostie mountains Of this number are the Mountains of Carlingford betwixt Dundalke and Carlingford the which in a clear day may easily be seen from the Mountains to the South of Dublin the which are more than fortie miles distant from them the Mountains about Lough Suillie in the North-parts of Vlster the which may be seen many miles off in the Sea the Curlews that sever the counties of Slego and Roscoman in Connaught the twelve Mountains in the North-quarter of the County of Tipperary in Munster the which farre exceding the rest of the mountains there are knowne by the name of the twelve hils of Phelim●ghe Madona Knock-Patrick in the West part of the county of Limmerick not farre from the bay of Limmerick which Mountain can be se●n by the ships which are a huge-way from the land yet the Mountains of Brandon hills in the County of Kerry to the East of the haven of Smerwick the which are discovered by the Sea-faring men when they are above fifty miles from the land in the North-west quarter of the county of Waterford called Slew-Boine that in the mountainous country of Wickloe which for it's fashions sake is commonly called the sugarloaf and may be seen very many miles off not only by those that are upon the Sea but even into the land Sect. 5. Nature of the Ground in Ireland and of the fruitfull grounds Next to the fore-going division of Ireland taken from the fashion and outward form of the land commeth to be considered that which consisteth in the nature of the soil or ground some parts of the countrie beeing fruitfull and others barren The fertile soil is in some places a blackish earth in others clay and in many parts mixt of both together as likewise there be sundry places where the ground is mixt of earth and sand sand and clay gravell and clay or earth but the chalke-ground and red earth which both are very plentifull and common in many parts of England are no where to be found in Ireland These grounds differ among themselves in goodness and fatness not only according to the different nature of the soil whereof they consist but also according to the depth of the mold or uppermost good crust the nature of the ground which lyeth next to it underneath for the best and richest soil if but half a foot or a foot deep and if lying upon a stiffie clay or hard stone is not so fertile as a leaner soil of greater depth and lying upon sand or gravell through which the superfluous moisture may descend and not standing still as upon the clay or stone make cold the roots of the grasse of corn and so hurt the whole There be indeed some countries in Ireland where the ground underneath being nothing but stone and the good mold upon it but very thin it is nevertheless very fruitfull in corn and bringeth sweet grass in great plenty so as sheep other cattle do wonderful wel thrive there which kind of land is very common in the County of Galloway and in some other Counties of Connaught as also in sundry parts of the other Provinces But the reason thereof is in those parts because the stone whereon the mould doth lye so thinly is not Free-stone or any such cold material but Lime-stone which doth so warm the ground and giveth it so much strength that what it wants in depth is thereby largely recompensed Sect. 6. Causes hindering the fruitfulness of the ground where the soyl otherwise is not bad Except in the case now by us declared neither Corn nor Grass will grow kindly where the ground though otherwise good is not deep enough as also where it hath a bad crust underneath From whence it commeth that in many places where the grass doth grow very thick and high the same nevertheless is so unfit for the food of beasts that cows and sheep will hardly touch it especially if they have been kept in better pastures first except that by extreme famine they be compelled thereto and that by reason of the coarsness and sowerness of the grass caused by the standing still of the water the which through the unfitness of the neather crust finding not a free passage downwards maketh cold the good mold and the crop and grass degenerate from its natural goodness For the same reason the land in many parts where otherwise the soyl in it self would be fit enough to produce good Wheat or Barley will hardly bear any thing else but Oats or Rye and that none of the best As in other parts the fault is in the soyl it self

necessary the wheels being all moved by water those places must be made choice of where one may have the conveniency of Water-courses And besides all this regard must be had to the nearness of the Woods partly by reason of the Timber a great deal whereof is necessary for the erecting of one of these Workes and chiefly for the Charcoales sake of which a vast quantity continually is requisite as before we have shewed Sect. 4. The charges of erecting and maintaining an Iron-work It is to be observed that although there be Wood enough upon ones land and that not very far from the Mine together with the conveniences of Water-courses so as the water needeth not to be brought from very far off nevertheless the charge is very great both of erecting and stocking one of the Iron-works and of maintaining it and keeping it afoot and that by reason of the great number of Workmen and Labourers of severall sorts which thereunto is requisite a list of whose names and offices here followeth Wood-cutters who fell the timber Sawyers to saw the timber Carpenters Smiths Masons and Bellow-makers to erect the Iron-works with all the appurtenances thereof and to repair them from time to time Water-leaders or Water-course-keepers to steer the Water-courses and to look to them constantly Basket-makers to make baskets for to carry the Oare and other materials Boat-men and Boat-wrights to make the Boats and to go in them Diggers who work in the Mine and dig the same Carriers who carry the Oare from the Mine Colliers who make the Char-coal corders who bring the Char-coal to the work fillers whose work it is from time to time to put the Mine and the coales into the furnace keepers of the furnace who look to the main work rake out the ashes and cinders and let out the molten metall at convenient times finers who look to the works where the Iron is hammered hammerers whose work it is to see the Iron hammered out besides severall other labourers who having no particular task must help to put their hand to every thing of all which sorts of men Sir Charles Coot the elder that zealous and famous Warriour in this present warre against the Irish Rebells wherein having done many memorable exploits he lost his life in the first year thereof did continually keep at work some five-and-twenty or six-and-twenty hundred at his Iron-works being three in number Wherby may easily be gathered the greatness of the expences in erecting maintaining of Iron-works and for all this the owners thereof did greatly gain thereby ordinarily no less than forty in the hundred per annum Sect. 5. Of the profit of the Iron-works instanced in those of Sir Charles Coot by Mountrath To speak somewhat more particularlie both of the charges and the profits of these Iron-works we shal instance the matter in one of the works of the said Sr Charles Coot namely that which he had in the Lordship of Mountrath in Queens-county At that work the Tun that is twenty hundred weight of Rock-mine at the furnace head came in all to stand in five shillings six pence sterling and the Tun of White-mine which hee had brought him from a place two miles further off in seven shillings These two were mixed in that proportion that to one part of Rock-mine were taken two parts of White-mine for if more of the Rock-mine had bin taken the Iron would not have bin so good and too brittle and being thus mixed they yeelded one third part of Iron that is to say of two Tuns of White-mine and one of Rock-mine being mingled and melted together they had one Tun of good Iron such as is called Merchants-Iron being not of the first but second melting and hammered out into barres and consequently fit for all kinds of use This Iron he sent down the river Oure by others called the Nure to Rosse and Waterford in that kind of Irish boates which are called Cots in that countrie being made of one piece of timber which kind of ill-favoured boats mentioned also by us above are very common throughout all Ireland both for to pass rivers in and to carry goods from one place to another and not only upon shallow waters such as the aforenamed River is in the greatest part of its course but even upon the great Rivers and Loughs At Waterford the Iron was put aboard of ships going for London where it was sold for sixteen otherwhiles for seventeen pounds stering and sometimes for seventeen and a half whereas it did not stand Sir Charles Coot in more than betwixt tenne and eleven pounds sterling all charges reckoned as well of digging melting fining as of carrying boat-hire and freight even the Custome also comprehended in it Sect. 6. Some other particulars about the same subiect of the prosit of the Iron-workes In most of the other places did a Tun of the Iron-mine or Oar come to stand in five five and a half and six shillings sterling at the furnace head and it was an ordinary thing as well where they used White-wine as where they mixed Rock-mine with it to have a Tun of good Iron out of three tuns of Oar in some places where the Mine was richer they would have a Tun of Iron out of only two Tuns and a half of Oar. Nevertheless few of them gained more or as much as Sir Charles Coot because they had not the same conveniencie of transportation And he himselfe did not gain so much by his Iron works in Connaught as by that neer Mountrath although the Mines there afforded a richer Oar and that the Tun thereof did cost him but three shillings at the furnace because that Lough-Allen whereunto the same Mines and Works are contiguons gave him the opportunitie of carrying the Oar by water from the Mine unto the Work and that in boates of forty tuns The Earl of Cork whose Iron-works being seated in Munster afforded unto him very good opportunitie of sending his Iron out of the land by shipping did in this particular surpass all others so as he hath gained great treasures thereby and knowing persons who have had a particular insight into his affaires doe assure me that he hath profited above one hundred thousand pounds clear gain by his said Iron-works Sect. 7. The manner of melting the Iron-oar The manner of melting the Iron usuall in Ireland is thus The furnace is not filled to the top but some space is left emptie and to put new stuff into it they doe not stay untill the former be quite consumed but only untill it be somewhat descended and then they cast into it some charges or basketfuls of Coales and at the top of them the same quantity of Mine and thus they doe from time to time so as the furnace is in ● manner alwaie● in one and the same estate where is to be observed that in most furnaces they adde unto the Oar and Coales some quantity of Iron-cinders and in others of Lime-stone

those of long continuance as the Falling-sickness the Pal●ie all sorts-of Gout Coughs the Consumption of the Lungs the Stone of the Kidneys and of the Bladder the Colick the laundis the Dropsie the grief of the Spleen and severall sorts of Loosnesses with all which Evills it is here as in other Countries some of them being very common here and others happening but seldom and in few persons the more particular relation whereof wee will leave for the books of Physick and for those Observa●ions which perhaps my Brother some time or other will publish of what he hath found concerning the●e matters in an ample and flourishing practice of eight yeares which he hath lived in Dublin CHAP. XXIIII Of the Diseases reigning in Ireland and whereunto that country is peculiarly subject Sect. 1. Of the Irish Agues AS Ireland is subject to most diseases in common with other Countries so there are some whereunto it is peculiarly obnoxious being at all times so rife there that they may justly be reputed for Irelands Endemii Morbi or reigning Diseases as indeed they are generally reputed for such Of this number is a certain sort of Malignant Feavers vulgarly in Ireland called Irish Agues because that at all times they are so common in Ireland as well among the Inhabitants and the Natives as among those who are newly come thither from other countries This Feaver commonly accompanied with a great pain in the head a●d in all the bones great weakness drought losse of all manner of appetite and want of sleep and for the most part idleness or raving and restlesness or tossings but no very great nor constant heat is hard to be cured for those that understand the disease and seek to overcome it do it not by purging which cannot be used at any time without great and present danger for the fermentation of the humors which causeth the disease is hereby mightily increased and the patient weakned and hardly with bleeding which seldom is used with success otherwise than in the very beginning but with strengthning medicines and good cordials in which case and if all necessary prescriptious be well observed very few persons doe lose their lives except when some extraordinary and pestilent malignity commeth to it as it befalleth in some yeares with so great violence that notwithstanding all good helps some are thereby carried to their graves the same doth ordinarily come to pass that it proveth deadly if the Sick doe fall into unskilfull hands or neglect all help or do not observe good directions in which cases many do perish and others who come off with their lives through robustuousness of nature or hidden causes are forced to keep their beds a long time in extreme weakness being a great while before they can r●cover their perfect health and strength Sect. 2. Of the Loosness The Loosness doth also greatly reign in Ireland as well among those of the countrie as among the Strangers wherfore the English inhabitants have given it the name of The country-disease Many are a great while troubled with it and yet get no other harm and those that betimes doe make use of good medicines are without any great difficulty cured of it But they that let the Loosness take its course do commonly after some dayes get the bleeding with it whereby the disease doth not only grow much more troublesome and painfull but a great deal harde● to be cured at last it useth to turn to the Bloody flux the which in some persons having lasted a great while leaveth them of it self but in farre the greatest number is very dangerous and killeth the most part of the sick except they be carefully assisted with good remedies That this disease as also the other viz. the Malignant Feavers are so rife in Ireland doth partly come through the peculiar disposition and excessive wetness of the Air but partly also through the errours which people do commit in eating and drinking and other particulars as manifestly doth appear by that a very great number not only of the Natives but also of the Strangers comming thi● her who t●ke carefull heed to themselves in abstaining from hurtfull things never are troubled with either of these infirmities Sect. 3. Of the Rickets Among the reigning diseases of Ireland the Rickets also may with good reason be reckoned a disease peculiar to young children and so well known to every body in England as it is needless to give any description of it and yet to this day never any Physician either English or of any other nation made any the least mention of it no not in those works which are expresly written of all manner of diseases and accidents of litle children In Ireland this disease is wonderfull rife now but it hath nothing neer been so long known there as in England either through th● unski●fullness or neglect of the Physicians the most part wherof in both kingdomes to this day are ignorant not onely of the manner how to cure it but even of the nature and property thereof or that really it is new there and never before having been in Ireland hath got footing in it only within these few yeares through some strange revolution or constellation or Gods immediat sending which kind of changes severall times have befaln in divers Countries and in Ireland it self wee have alreadie shewed some such matter in another sickness namely the Tertian-Ague This evill being altogether incurable when it is gon too farre is hard enough to be cured even in the beginning except it be very carefully looked unto and use made of the best remedies nevertheless this grief as well as mo●● others hath its peculiar medicines the which being applied betimes and with convenient care do with Gods blessing for the most part produce the effect desired Sect. 4. Of the Lepros●e The Rickets are of late very rife in Ireland where few yeares agoe unknown so on the contra●y it hath been almost quite freed from another disease one of the very worst miserablest in the world namely the Leprosie which in former times used to bee very common there especially in the Province of Munster the which therefore was filled with Hospitals expresly built for to receive keep the Leprous persons But many yeares since Ireland hath been almost quite freed from this horrible and loathsome disease and as few Leprous persons are now found there as in any other Countrie in the world so that be Hospitals erected for their use having stood empty a long time at length are quite decayed come to nothing The cause of th●s change is not so obscure nor unknown as it is in most other changes of that nature For that this sickness was so generall in Ireland did not come by any peculiar defect in the Land or in the Air but meerly through the fault foul gluttony of the inhabitants in the excessive d●vouring of unwholesome Salmons The common report in Ireland is that boiled Salmons eaten hot out