three forenamed but nothing like the same in shape nor in the same manner running with a long arm a huge way into the land but rather approaching to the figure of a half moon In this Bay is Crook-haven School-haven and severall other great Havens not only on the main land but also in some of the Ilands whereof there is a great number in this Bay The most Easterly of all these Ilands is Baltimore the which surpassing all the others in bigness giveth its name unto the Bay That part of the Bay which lyeth betwixt this Iland and the Main having a narrow entrance but within of a great largenes is a marvellous good Road where ships may come to an anchor on either side lye defended off all winds It is five and six fathoms deep on the sides six and 7. in the midst In the mouth of the Harbour next to the East-side lyeth a blind Rock in the midst of it another Rock which appeareth at low water There is nothing els that can do hurt This Haven being far the principallest of all this Bay hath its name as wel as the Bay it self of the Iland being called Baltimore-haven To the North of that Iland lieth another â—land called Spain-Iland where one may pass betwixt these two Ilands to the West and so out of Baltimore-haven goe into the Sea But onely with smaller vessells because half flood there is not aboue 12. or thiteen feet of water in all that channell Sect. 11 Castle-haven Rosse-haven Clandore Haven with the Havens of Kinsale and Cork Some miles beyond Baltimore-bay is Castle-haven where ships may come to an anchor in twelve fathoms of water being of a reasonable bigness and very clear and clean as well in the entrance as within Between Castle-haven and Kinsale are two other good Havens to wit that of Rosse and of Clandore in which there is water enough and very clean ground The Haven of Kinsale is one of the famousest of all Ireland ships may sail into it keeping in the midst of the channell without any danger either without or in the mouth of the Harbour except a blind Rock close to the East point Within the haven on the West-side lyeth a great shelf which shooteth a great way off from the land but leaving a very large passage along by the side of it in which as in all the rest of the Harbour it is many fathomes deep This Haven for some miles goeth in North-North-East but afterwards turneth West-ward untill the Kay of Kinsale where ships may ride in eight or nine fathoms of water being defended off all Winds Ten or twelve miles to the East of Kinsale is Cork-haven the which goeth in North-North-East being within large and wide running a great way into the land for the town of Cork untill whose Kay this Haven is very clean and deep is seated many miles from the Sea and from the mouth of the Harbour CHAP. III. Of the lesser Havens and the barred Havens of Ireland also of the Roads and Anchor-places upon the coast and in the little Ilands near the coast Sect. 1. Wexford-haven AFter the description of the principal Havens of Ireland we shall come to them of less moment in which number we put all those which either in their entrance or within have not water enough for the bigher sort of vessels as likewise those the which being deep enough are but very little and of a small pourprise and in this description we shall observe the same order as in the former beginning with Wexford and so going North-ward then West afterwards South-ward and lastly East and North-Eastward untill wee have gone about the whole Iland The Haven of Wexford runneth in West and by North and with her innermost part altogether Northward Just before this Haven lye two great shelves of Sands by the side one of the other of which that on the South-side is called Hanemans-path and the other North-grounds There goeth a chanel betwixt Hanemans-path and the land on the South-side of the Haven and another betwixt the North-side and the north-North-grounds but this last hath but six feet of water at full flood and in the other eight feet with the flood of ordinary tides and ten at spring-tides The chief chanel is that which goeth in betwixt the two Sands being four and five fathom deep Besides these Sands there is another Shelf in the mouth of the Harbour it self which kind of sandy-banks lying across in the mouth of Harbours and Rivers are usually called Bars and the Havens which have them Bared-havens With a high flood there is about sixteen feet of water Being past the Bar you have for some way three fathoms of water three and a half and four but afterwards for a great way but ten feet and ten a half with a high flood although under the Castle where the Ships come to an Anchor you have four fathoms and before the Town three but because of the forementioned shallows no vessels can go to Wexford that draw more than ten feet of water but must unlade and lade in a Creek near the mouth of the Haven on the South-side about three miles from the Town where is water enough but no shelter for the South-west winds the which do come over the land to this place Sect. 2. Dublin-haven Dublin Haven hath a Bar in the mouth upon which at high-flood and spring-tide there is fifteen and eighteen feet of water but at the ebbe and nepâ—-tide but six With an ordinary tide you cannot go to the Key of Dublin with a Ship that draws five feet of water but with a spring-tide you may go up with Ships that draw seven and eight feet Those that go deeper cannot go nearer Dublin than the Rings-end a place three miles distant from the Bar and one from Dublin This Haven almost all over falleth dry with the ebbe as well below Rings-end as above it so as you may go dry-foot round about the Ships which lye at an Anchor there except in two places one at the North-side half way betwixt Dublin and the Bar and the other at the South-side not far from it In these two little Creeks whereof the one is called the Pool of Clantarf and the other Poolebeg it never falleth dry but the Ships which ride at an Anchor remain ever afloat because at low water you have nine or ten feet of water there This Haven besides its shallownes hath yet another great incommodity that the Ships have hardly any shelter there for any winds not only such as come out of the sea but also those which come off from the land especially out of the South-west so as with a great South-west storm the Ships run great hazard to be carried away from their Anchors and driven into the sea which more than once hath come to pass and particularly in the beginning of November Anno 1637 when in one night ten or twelve Barks had that misfortune befaln them of the most
Sands or Grounds as any in all the world not alone upon the other sides where the same is wide and open far distant from all other lands but upon the East-side where the same is inclosed betwixt Ireland and Great-Britain in which whole space it hath not any other Sands than those situated along the coast between Dublin and Wexford These indeed are of a huge extent but not turning and winding as most part of the Grounds in other places but in a streight line North-North-East South-South-West being farthest from the land with their North-end and as they go Southward so they do come nearer to the land and near the Tuskar a Rock right against the point of Greenore in which place they end they are not much more than two miles distant from the land whereas the distance betwixt the North-end near the Iland Dalkee which Iland as before we have shewed lyeth at the entrance of Dublin-bay about threescore miles from the Tuskar is above eight miles They are all of a stoney-Stoney-ground in some places but one fathom deep and a fathom and a half but in the North-end two fathoms and a half and three fathoms Betwixt these Grounds and the land lye two or three little Sands besides those which lye in and before the mouth of the Bay of Wexford one betwixt the South-end and Greenore another to the South of the Head of Glascarick a good mile from the land called Rush and Ram and a third one mile to the South of Arcklohead called Glaskermen somewhat more than half a mile from the land and about two miles long Sect. 2. Of the Chanel betwixt the Land and the forenamed Grounds The Chanel betwixt the great Grounds and the land is very deep all over so that the biggest vessels may pass through it from Dublin to Wexford and from Wexford to Dublin taking care only that they doe not come too neer the Grounds the which being very steep on the inside as they are also without or on the East-side where ships may not come neerer to them than in 24. and 25. fathoms because that in twenty fathomes one is close by them it is requisite not to goe further off from the land than in seven or eight fathoms in which depth ships may within a cabels length sail all along the coast the which here every where is very clean and free from all danger And even between the land and the forenamed small Grounds Glaskermen and Rush and Ram the Sea is very clean and deep so as most ships doe passe betwixt them and the land and not about by the out side of them These Sands in four severall places are cut thorough with fair broad and deep chanells whereof the one is over against the Bay of Wexford the other against Glascarick beeing no less than fifteen or sixteen fathoms deep the third right against Arckloe in which chanel it is about seven or eight fathoms deep and the fourth is directly against Wickloe Sect. 3. Blind Rocks upon the coast of Ireland from the Saltees unto Wickloe There are some blind Rock in this Sea but lye for the most part close under the land or neer some of the litle Ilands or high Rocks so as they may easily be shunned the rather because most of them doe at low water appear either in part or altogether To speak a litle of these in order the Saltees two litle Ilands situated half way between the Haven of Waterford and and the head of Carnarord of the which hath been spoken heretofore have both at the North-side some blind Rocks whereof those which ly neer the bigger and Southermost Iland fall dry at low water About three miles to the South of the same bigger Iland lyeth a blind Rock called Kinmore of the bignes of a ship at half ebbe it cometh above water and is so steep that with the side of a ship one may ly close against it and have fourteen fathomes of water so as without any danger one may sail very close by it To the South-East of the fore named bigger Iland doe also lye some blind Rocks called the Frailes the which may be seen at low water and ships may passe through the midst of them About half a mile from Blackrock a noted Rock whereof shall be spoken anon lyeth a blind Rock called the Barrell of the which one must take heed very carefully A little to the West of Carnarord lyeth a small Rocky foul close under the land Betwixt Carnarord and St Margarets Bay it is foul and Rocky but the foul grounds doe not reach far into the Sea South-South-East from St Margarets Bay lyeth a blind Rock called Caliogh the which at low water falleth dry From the point of Greenore a riffe of blind Rocks and Stones runneth almost the length of a mile into the Sea the which at low water falleth dry a good way from the land At the North-side of the Head of Arcklo lyeth a litle Stony row the which is shunned very carefully by the ships not daring to come neerer to it than in five fathoms of water Sect. 4. The rest of the blind Rocks upon the coast of Ireland Iust to the South of the head of Wickloe a little way from the land lyeth a Rocky sand called Horse-shoe betwixt which and the land ships may sail thorough if need be but that being full of danger it is done very seldome and a little further to the South lyeth a little blind Rock close by the land called the Wolfe the which at half ebb cometh above water betwixt which and the land fishers boats doe passe The like blind Rocks Rockie sands lye upon the coast betwixt Tredagh and Dundalk as also betwixt Dundalk and Carlingford in both places close under the land at both the points of the Havens of Carlingford Strangford under St Iohns point situated half way between those two Havens on both sides of those two great Rocks a litle way beyond Strangford Haven called Southrock and Northrock between the Ilands of Copland Iles and the land at the South-point of the bay of Knockfergus round about those great Rocks over against Oldfleet called the nine maids to the West of the little Iland called Sheeps-Iland betwixt Port Belletree and Skires Portrush which Rocks are called the Chickens half-way betwixt Lough-Suillie and Sheeps-Haven a mile or two from the land which Rocks the flood doth cover but at ebbe they come above water in severall other places upon the West-coast the South-coast the which it would be tedious all to particularise wherfore we will conclude this rehearsall of the Blind Rocks with that which to the West of St Iohns point a point situated three or four mile Southwards from Kilbeg-haven doth lye somwhat more than a mile off from the land upon which the Sea breaketh with great noise and nevertheless one may freely and without any danger sail between the same and the land Sect. 5. Rocks in the Irish Sea upon the
Wexford to the point of Glasearick from which place to the bay of Dublin being about fifty miles the coast is full of inlets where it is very good anchoring in good sand ground especially to the North of Arkloe-head in a fair sand bay every where in eight seven or five fathomes and between Arkloe and Missen-head being the space of six or seaven miles In the mouth of the Bay of Dublin at this side of the Bar is good anchoring as well on the South side before the Village Dalkee which place is known by the name of Berton Road as on the North-side round about that great Cape named the Head of Houth Between Strangford-haven and the Bay of Knockfergus are divers good Anchoring-places but all that Coast is very foul with Rocks and blind Rocks To the North of Knockfergus are divers inlets where one may come to an Anchor there are some Rocks but they all stand above the water so as easily they may be shunned Sect. 8. The rest of the Roads upon the coast of Ireland To the West of Fair-foreland the coast is flat and clean so as there ships may Anchor every where in eight and nine fathoms Under the point of Eniston on the West-side one may Anchor for Easterly winds or to stop the tide Between Loughsuille and Sheeps-haven is an inlet where Ships may come to an Anchor but the ground is somwhat foul On the West-side of Cape-horn Ships may ride at Anchor for Easterly winds And along the whole coast between Cape-horn and the Iles of Aran is every where good Anchor-ground as also upon the West-coast between St. Johns-point and Dungal-haven being the space of five or six miles In the Sound of Blaskets it is good Anchoring on the South-side of the point for Northern and Western and on the North-side for the contrary windes On both sides of the Old-head of Kinsalâ— by the Dutch Mariners called Cape Velho ships may Anchor as deep or shallow as they will There is also a good inlet for to Anchor in a few miles beyond the Haven of Cork and on the East-side of Ardimore-head is a Bay where it is good riding for Westerly winds in seven or eight fathoms There is also a good Anchoring place or two betwixt Dungarvan and the Haven of Waterford Sect. 9. Roads in the Ilands of Salters Dalkee Irelands-Eye and Lambay As for the Roads in the Ilands about half way betwix Waterford haven and Carnarord lie two litle Ilands a mile or two from the land called Salters the Southmost whereof which lyeth furthest from the land is much bigger than the other ships may passe between these two Ilands in five six and seven fathoms On the East-side of the lesser Iland is a good Road to come to an anchor in seven or eight fathoms where ships may ride in safety for South-West West and North-West winds and on the North-West-side of the bigger Iland ships may anchor in seven eight or nine fathoms the Road being defended off South-South-East and East-South-East winds Close by the South point of Dublin-bay lyeth a small Iland called Dalkee betwixt which and the Main land passeth a Sound seven eight and nine fathoms deep in which you may anchor under the Iland On the North-side of the head of Houth lyeth another small Iland scarce half a mile in compas where-in as also in Dalkee no body inhabiteth both serving only for to feed cattell having a decayed â—hapell on the West-side over against which ships may come to an anchor Three or four miles beyond Irelands Ey lyeth the I le of Lambry belonging to Sir William Vsher of Dublin who hath there a fine litle Castle of free stone and close by it a village wherein dwell divers families of Fishers and Husband-men who plow part of this Iland and upon the the rest seed cattell and sheep The whole Iland being about three miles in compas is high land wherefore it may be seen a great way off On the North-side of this Iland ships may anchor in twelve and thirteen fathoms for a Southerly wind For a Sea-wind the ships must ride on the West-side over against the Castle but that Road is not very good because alwayes in that Sound being about three miles broad goeth a great Sea Sect. 10. Roads in the rest of the litle Ilands about Ireland Right against the Promontory of Fair-Foreland lyeth the Iland Raghleens where ships may sail round about as well at the out side as betwixt it and the land according as the wind and tide serve On the South-West side is a fair Bay with very fine Sand-ground where ships may ride defended off all winds A litle way on this side and to the East of Brandhaven lyeth Skires Portrush a Rockie Iland the which on the South-side hath a fair Bay very good Sand-ground where ships may anchor in six or seven fathoms being sheltred of all winds except the East-North-East wind the which along the Coast doth directly blow upon it There is a good Road on the South-East-side of the I le of Aran situated on the North-West-side of Ireland and betwixt this Iland and the Main there lye three or four small Iles where ships may anchor in divers places and be secured off all winds There is also a good Road for some winds under Eneskie Iland the middlemost of the three Ilands situated betwixt Akill head and Sline-head called Boche where is good anchoring in four fathoms under the Northern-most Iland of those three lying in the mouth of the Bay of Galloway under Enis Morrow one of the Blaskees under Dorses I le lying betwixt the Bayes of Maire and Bantree in the Sound which passeth betwixt the same I le and the Main land Ten or twelve miles to the East of Cork-haven lyeth an Iland called Balle-cotton where ships may anchor in five or six fathoms for Westerly and Southerly winds There is also a good Road on the East-side of Capel-Iland a little I le lying three or four miles from the mouth of the Haven of Youghall CHAP. IV. Quality and fashion of the Irish Coast or Shoares Item a brief description of the principall Promontories or Heads of Ireland Sect. 1. Of the low and Strandie Shoares of Ireland THe Irish Coast is not every where alike but of severall sorts In some places the land along the Sea is low and flat having a broad sandy strand with a row of sandy hills the which doth part the land from the strand in the same maner as it is upon all the Coast of Holland and Flaunders where these kind of hils are called Duynen or Downes only with this difference that they are not so large nor high as in the Low-Countries and that the rowes of them take up but a little space in breadth This kind of Strand is in most parts of Fingall being a portion of the Countie of Dublin Northwards towards Tredagh and a good way beyond that and els where In other places ly no Downes or Sandy hills
out of it doth fly abroad and it is very common throughout all Ireland but especially in the Provinces of Munster and Connaught lying not deep within the ground but very near to the surface of it and in many places above ground The manner of burning it into Lime usual over all Ireland is this In the side of some little height they make a great pit round or square according as conveniencie is offered of that bignes as may hold forty or fifty barrels of that fashion that being many feet wide at the top it doth by degrees grow narrower towards the bottom in the same manner as the Furnaces of the Iron-works The inside of this pit they line round about with a wall built of Lime and Stone at whose outside near the bottom a hole or door is left by which to take out the ashes and above that an iron-grate is laid which cometh close to the wall round about Upon this they lay a lay of Lime-stone being first knockt asunder with a great Iron hammer and broke into peeces of the bigness of a fâ—st or thereabouts and upon that a lay of wood or turf or a certain sort of Sea-coal the which being wonderfull small and peculiarly called Comb is hardly used for any other purpose Upon that they lay another of Lime-stone and so by turns untill the whole Kiln be filled ever observing that the outmost lay be of wood turf or comb and not of Lime-stone which being done the Kiln is set afire until all be burnt Sect. 5. Another manner of burning Lime used in Ireland There is another manner of burning Lime used in Ireland in Kilns built altogether above ground and incomparably bigger than the others insomuch as to the quantity of three hundred Barrels of Lime at once is made in them In these Kilns they burn whole stones without breaking them into peeces as the others and that onely with wood turf or comb not being fit for it whereof they consume a huge deal it being necessary from time to time to put new wood into them to which end three or four men day and night do stand by the Kiln to keep the fire from decaying or slackning These called French-kilns because the usâ— of them was first received from thence have ever their walls made of Lime-stone the which in the same manner are turned into Lime so as there remaineth nothing standing of these Kilns after that the work is accomplished and the Lime taken away Now albeit that in these kilnes a very great quantity of Lime is made at a time nevertheless it hath been found by experience that they are much more unprofitable than the others because they consume much more firing in proportion through the continuall renewing of the fire and require the constant labour of severall men all the while they are burning which commonly is the space of three dayes and nights For these reasons was the use of these kilnes which never had been very generall in Ireland more and more left off in these last yeares and the others almost only made use of in the which the Lime came to stand them who burnt it in no more then four pence the barrell at the most all manner of expences being reckoned but three to them who had the best conveniences Sect. 6. Of the Brick In every part of Ireland there is found a kind of clay very fit for to make bricks and all sorts of Potters-ware although the Irish never had the wit or industrie to make use of it for either of these two ends yea they have ever been so farre from making any earthen vessels that even the use thereof hath been very rare amongst them and to the most part unknown not only before the comming in of the English but also since yea even untill these very last times although a great number of English Potters in severall parts of the land had set up their trade so as all kind of earthen ware was very common and to be had at very easie rates And as for the Brick they have been little used in Ireland even among the English themselves for a great while but of late years they begun to be very common as well in the countrie as in the Cities especially Dublin where all the new buildings the which not only in handsomness but also in number doe surpass the old are all made of Brick But that which is made in Ireland for the most part is not so good as that of other Countries not so much for any unfitness in the clay it self as for want of handling and preparing it aright as may easily be conceived by the following description of the manner they use to make it Sect. 7. The manner how they make their Brick in Ireland They dig a great square pit taking away all the uppermost earth untill they come to a good clay which commonly lyeth one or two spits deep This they digge up throughout the whole pit and having broke it very small with the spade they doe by degrees powre a great deal of water amongst it working and labouring it together with the spade and their feet till the whole mass become uniform firm and tough like stiff dough the which then in wheel barrowes is carried out of the pit to a place where certain long tables are set up to each of which tables is allotted one man one woman one boy The woman taketh up the clay by handfulls from the heap lying upon the ground and reacheth it unto the man who thrusteth it into a little wodden form without bottom strawing now and then some sand upon the table that the clay may not stick to it and so having given them their due fashion the boy doth carry them from thence to a place where he layeth them all upon the ground not under any covert but in the open air After they have lyen some dayes and are somewhat dryed they are piled up in small heaps twenty or thirty in a heap making the heapes transparent in the same manner as we have shewed above of the Turf Some dayes after those little piles are made into greater which are many feet long and five or six feet high but not above two feet or two and a half broad making the layes transparent with some empty space between brick and brick even so as in the small piles the which at the top are covered over with straw laying upon the straw broad green sods to keep off the rain Having lyen so untill they be quite dry they make great ovens or Kilnes of them filling them within with the same strawing betwixt them of that small sort of Sea-caol whereof wee have spoke heretofore called Comb or Coome and having covered over the kiln with the same clay whereof the bricks are made the thickness of two hand-broads or there-abouts they set it afire with wood underneath and continue the fire untill not only all the bricks piled within the Kiln
into the land the which it doth for the space of fifteen miles as far as to the Town of Belfast where a little river called Lagon not portable but of small boates falleth into this Harbour In this Bay is a reasonable good Road before the Town of Knockfergus seated about nine miles within the land where it is good anchoring in three fathoms and three and a halfe On the North side of the Bay somewhat neer the Sea under a Castle called Mouse-hill is a sand-bay where it is good anchoring for all sorts of ships aswell great as small ones for the North and North-west winds but bad riding for the South-west Sect. 4. Sheeps haven Lough Suillie and Lough foile The three fore-mentioned Havens of Carlingford Strangford Knockfergus are all in the Province of Vlster on the East-side thereof The said Province hath also three good Havens on its Northern coast not very far distant the one from the other viz. Sheep haven Lough Suillie and Lough foile Every one of these is a Lough which the very name of the second and third sufficiently testifieth opening it self into the sea of the which Sheeps haven and Lough Suillie although they bee fair large Harbours as well as Lough foile and that Ships may ride there defended off all winds Lough Suillie beeing also of sufficient bigness to contain a thousand great vessels yet are they very litle frequented because there is not any trade nor trafick nor any good town placed upon or neer them Lough foile is of a great bignes at least twelve miles long and in most places five or six miles broad beeing almost every where of an equall breadth except at the two ends where it groweth narrow beeing of an Ovall figure For at the mouth betwixt Magilions point and Greencastle it is hardly a mile and a half broad and at the other end it is much narrower yet running from thence with a long arm some miles into the countrie beeing liker to a broad River than to a Lough Vpon this Arm three or four miles from the great Lough is the town of London-derrie in a place where that Arm turneth and windeth it self in that manner as it environeth the town on three sides It is nothing big consisting only of two long streets the which cut one nother cross-wayes in the midst but it is very handsome the streets beeing broad and well paved the houses some stories high built for the most of free-stone with a handsome Church Market place and Key and is inclosed with a thick and very strong stone wall being one of the principall fortresses of Ireland It is but few yeares old having been built up from the ground by a company of London Adventurers under the reign of King Iames. Before the mouth of this Lough lyeth a great sand called the Touns upon which it burneth greatly when the wind bloweth from the sea but so as a fair broad and deep channell remaineth betwixt the said Sand and the West-side of the land where there is at all times fourteen and fifteen fathoms of water as in the mouth it self some eight or ten Entring into the Lough there are very great Sands on the left hand from the one end to the other which are some miles broad from off the land and of the right hand are some little sands or shelves here lying close to the land Betwixt these runneth a broad channell in most parts three and four fathoms deep and in that Arm whereon London-derry standeth it is deeper yet in some places no less than ten or twelve and before the Town four and five fathoms so as this is one of the best and most commodious harbours of all the Land Sect. 5. Kilbeg and Dungall Haven The Country of Tirconnell the which taketh up the whole West-side of the Province of Ulster runneth a great way into the Sea with its Southern part on the South side of which Foreland there are two very Fair Havens the one not far from the other viz. Kilbeg and Dungall-haven Kilbeg is a fair round Bay where the greatest ships that goe upon the seas may at all times with their full lading enter and come to an anchor being distant about twelve miles from Cape de Tellin the outmost or most Western point of that forenamed Foreland of Tirconnell The entrance is very narrow so as unto them who are comming to it there seemeth to be no opening there untill they are very neer but it is very clean as well in the mouth as in the Bay it self and nothing that can hurt the ships either comming in or going forth beeing entred one may anchor where one will in five six seven eight fathomes or more Three or four miles to the South from Kilbeg is a Cape called St. Iohns point and six or seaven miles Eastward from the said Cape is Dungal-haven wide and deep enough but in the entrance greatly incumbred with shelves sands rocks so as great care circumspection is requisit to enter or goe forth safely These two Havens have their names of villages seated on them which are very small and no wayes considerable Sect. 6. Broad-haven Akill-haven and Galloway-haven The Province of Connaught extending her self betwixt Vlster and Munster taketh up the greatest part of the westside of Ireland it hath also some good Ports as namely Broad-haven an other to the North of Akill head and a third situated between the main and the North and East side of Akill Iland in which one may ride in seven and eight fathomes and be defended off all winds although it be rather a Sound than an inclosed Harbour for the ships which are come into it need not to goe forth the same way again but sailing on betwixt the Main and the Iland may at the South end of the I le come again to the open sea These Havens are nothing famous beeing very seldome resorted unto by any great ships except such as by tempests and foul weather or some other accident are necessitated to shelter themselves in the same But the famousest Port of this Province is that of Galloway beeing a very great Bay some miles broad and many more long having in the mouth three Ilandâ— named the Iles of Aran the which lye North and South by the side one of the other there remaining three chanels for to come out of the sea into this Bay One chanel runneth betwixt the Land and the Northern Iland called therefore North-sound the second between the the same Northern Iland and the middlemost which channel beeing the most usuall of the three is commonly stiled St Gregories sound and the third between the Southernmost Iland and the main named South sound the channel betwixt the Southern and the middlemost Iland not beeing passable by reason of the sands and shelves wherefore the name of False-sound hath been given to it The whole North-side of this Bay is very foul with sands and rocks so as one may not approach the shoar in
other times of the year some furious storm arising the ships are dashed against the Rocks against the rocky Shoares or against those Grounds which extend themselves betwixt the Tuskar and the Bay of Dublin whilst the Steer-men and Pilots by reason of the darkness not being able to discern the land or any of their wonted marks do not know which way to steer to shun those dangerous places and to keep themselves in the open sea Sect. 3. Nature of the ground of the Irish-sea The ground of the Irish-sea as well in the midst as under the land is almost every where clear sand but in some places black and muddy or oasiâ—-earth In very few places rough and sharp and scarce any where else but in the Bay of Wickloe so hard and stifly compacted that the Anchors can take no hold of it Sect. 4. Of the Tides in the Irish-sea What concerneth the Ebbing and Flowing in this sea which invironeth Ireland upon all the West-side it floweth against the land and the Ebbe falleth back from it into the sea the Flood from and the Ebbe towards the West for which reason very great Tides as well of Ebbe as Flood go upon all this coast not onely the open shoares but in the bayes and inlets even those which go a great way into the land as the Haven of Limmerick so as those who have been at Galloway do assure us that it doth so mightily ebbe and flow there that at high-water great vessels may sayl over those Rocks the which with the Ebbe come above water Upon the other side of Ireland it ebbeth and floweth along the land for upon the North-side of Ireland the Ebbe and Flood falleth in the same manner as upon the West-side flowing from and ebbing towards the West But upon the East-side from Fair-Foreland unto Carlingford the Flood commeth from and the Ebbe falleth to the North As upon the rest of this East-side to wit from Carlingford to Carnarord it floweth from the South and ebbeth from the North. For although upon all this side the Flood runneth along the land yet doth it not take its beginning from one and the same but two contrary points the which two floods comming the one out of the Main-sea in the North and the other out of the Main-sea in the South do meet and stop one another before the Haven of Carlingford From Tuskar and Carnarord as far as to the Head of Clare being the whole South-Eastcoast of Munster the Flood falleth along the coast East-North-East and the Ebbe West-South-West But upon the rest of the coast of Munster beyond the Head of Clare Westward which coast lyeth West and by South the Flood falleth East-ward and the Ebbe to the West Sect. 5. Strong Tides in the Sounds Strange proprietie of the Bay of Wexford in the matter of Tides That which the Sea-faring men do witness that in the Sound of Blaskes of Dalkee and in that of Lambey as also in some other narrow chanels of this sea there goeth a very strong Tide as well of the Ebbe as Flood is no other than may be observed almost every where else in places of the like nature But it is much to be wondered what the same do relate of the chanel or entrance of the Haven of Wexford to wit that it ebbeth and floweth there three houres sooner than without in the open sea so as when it is high water in the chanel of that Haven and upon the bar of the same the Flood doth still for half a Tide or three hours after strongly run by it to the North whereby it cometh to pass that the end of Hanemans-path a great Sand lying just before the Haven of VVexford is cast up more and more to the North and that the chanel which passeth by the North-side of that Sand being the entrance of the Haven is now more to the North than it hath been formerly And as it floweth three houres longer in the open sea than upon the Bar and in the chanel of this Haven in the like manner also the Ebbe in the sea falleth to the South three houres after that it is low water in the same place but not so strongly as the Flood Sect. 6. Some other strange particulars about the Tides in the Iâ—ish-sea related by Giraldus but found not to be true More strange it is what Giraldus writeth of the Havens of Wickloe and Arckloe to wit that in VVickloe-haven it ever floweth when in the sea it ebbeth and that it ebbeth there when it floweth in the sea And that in the same River this Haven being nothing else but the mouth of a little River the water is salt as well when the ebbe is at the lowest as at the flowing and high-water And that to the contrary in that Riveler which at Arcklo dischargeth it self into the sea the water keepeth its sweetness at all times never receiving the mixture of any saltness as well with the flood and high-water as with the ebbe But experience sheweth these things to be repugnant to the truth as also what he writeth of a Rock not far from Arcklo at the one side wherof he saith that it alwayes ebbeth when it doth flow on the other and to the contrary Also that in Milford-haven situated in the Southernmost part of Wales in a manner over against Waterford and upon the next coasts it ebbeth and floweth at quite contrary times to what it doth at Dublin and the coast thereabouts so that it should begin to ebbe in Milford-haven when in the Bay of Dublin it beginneth to flow and to flow in Milford-haven when it beginneth to ebbe at Dublin Which how untrue it is all those can witnes who having bin in both places have had the curiosity to observe the times and houres at what age of the Moon soever wherein it doth begin to ebbe and to flow there CHAP. VII Of the Springs and Fountains item of the Brooks and Rivelets of Ireland Sect. 1. Of the Springs and Fountains HAving sufficiently spoke of the Sea wherin Ireland lyeth and of whatsoever belongeth thereunto we shall now before we come to treat of the Land it self speak of the Waters within the Land first of the Springs and Brooks afterwards of the Rivers and lastly of the Loughs or Lakes As for the first to wit Fountains and Springs Ireland is very full of them every where not only in the mountainous and hilly parts but even in the flat and Champain countries Which Springs for the most part are all of one and the same fashion being like unto a small pit full of water up to the brim at the lower â—ide whereof the water doth run forth without making any noise or bubling For that kind of Fountains which forcibly burst out of the side of a Rock or spout their water on high are very rarely to be found in this Kingdom The water of these Well-springs is for the most part cool clear and pure free from all strange smell and
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 Phelimâ—ghe Madona Knock-Patrick in the West part of the county of Limmerick not farre from the bay of Limmerick which Mountain can be seâ—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
the Marle in Ireland and the manner of Marling the land there MArle is a certain sort of fat and clayish stuff being as the grease of the earth it hath from antient times on greatly used for manuring of land both in France and England as may appear out of Pliny in the sixth seventh and eighth Chapters of his seventeenth Book The same also is stil very usual in sundry parts of England being of an incomparable goodness The which caused the English who out of some of those places where Marle was used were come to live in Ireland to make diligent search for it and that with good success at last it having been found out by them within these few years in severall places first in the Kings-county not far from the Shanon where being of a gray colour it is digged out of the Bogs And in the County of Wexford where the use of it was grown very common before this Rebellion especially in the parts lying near the sea where it stood them in very good steed the land of it self being nothing fruitfull For although the ground for the most part is a good black earth yet the same being but one foot deep and having underneath a crust of stiff yellow clay of half a foot is thereby greatly impaired in its own goodness In this depth of a foot and a half next under the clay lyeth the Marle the which reacheth so far downwards that yet no where they are come to the bottom of it It is of a blew colour and very fat which as in other ground so in this is chiefly perceived when it is wet but brittle and dusty when it is dry Sect. 2. The manner charges and profit of Marling the ground The Marle is layd upon the land in heaps by some before it is plowed by others after many letting it lye several moneths ere they plow it again that the Rain may equally divide and mixe it the Sun Moon and Air mellow and incorporate it with the earth One thousand Cart-loads of this goeth to one English Acre of ground it being very chargeable for even to those who dig it out of their own ground so as they are at no other expences but the hire of the labourers every Acre cometh to stand in three pounds sterling But these great expences are sufficiently recompenced by the great fruitfulness which it causeth being such as may seem incredible for the Marled-land even the very first year fully quitteth all the cost bestowed on it There besides it is sufficient once to Marle whereas the ordinary dunging must be renewed oftentimes Sect. 3. The usage of the Marled-land practised by them of the County of Wexford The good usage of the Marled-land to keep it in heart for ever after doth consist in the opinion and practise of some in letting it ly Fallow at convenient times but the ordinary manner commonly practised by the inhabitants of the County of Wexford and counted the best by them is that having sowed it five or six years together with the richest sorts of Corn to wit Wheat and Barley especially that sort which in some parts of England and generally in Ireland is peculiarly called Bear being a much richer Grain than the ordinary Barley it being afterwards turned to Pasture whereunto it is very fit forasmuch as it bringeth very sweet grass in great abundance For the Marle is also used on Meddows at the first with very good success improving the same most wonderfully If the Marled-land be thus used and by turns kept under Corn and Grass it keeps its fruitfulness for ever where to the contrary if year after year it be sowed till the heart be drawn out it 's quite spoyled so as afterwards it is not possible to bring it again to any passable condition by any kind of Dunging or Marling This would ordinarily be done in the space of ten yeares for so long together the Marled-land may be sowed and bring every year a rich crop of the best Corn. Nevertheless this is not generall but taketh place onely in the worser kind of ground for where the land of it self is better and richer there after Marling Wheat and other Corn may be sowed not only for ten yeares together but longer For very credible persons have assured me that some parts of the County of Wexford having boâ—n very good Corn for thirteen yeares together and afterwards being turned to Pasture it was as good and fertile as other Marled-grounds that had been under Corn but five or six years Sect. 4. Of the Marle in Connaught The Province of Connaught by what hath been discovered is much more plentifull in Marle than Leinster as in other Counties so in those of Roscoman Slego and Galloway almost in every part of it It is there of three several colours some being white as chalk other gray and some black but none blew as that in the County of Wexford It lyeth nothing deep under the upper-upper-ground or surface of the earth commonly not above half a foot but it s own depth is so great that never any body yet digged to the bottom of it The land which they intend to Marle in this Province is commonly plowed in the beginning of May and lying five or six weeks untill it be sufficiently dryed and mellowed by the Sun and Wind they harrow it and then having brought the Marle upon it five or six weeks after it is plowed again and a third time about September After which third plowing they sow it with Wheat or Barley whereof they have a very rich crop the next year Sect. 5. Property and usage of the Marled-lands in Connaught Land Marled in that manner as we have said may be sowed ten or twelve yeares together the first eight or nine-with Wheat and Bear or Barley and the remaining three or four years with Oates afterwards the land is turned to pasture and having served some years in that kind it may be Marled anew and made as good for Corn as at the first For the observation of those of the County of Wexford that land may not be Marled more than once doth not take place in Connaught where it is an ordinary thing having some space of years to make it again I know some Gentlemen who have caused some parcels of land to be Marled thrice in the space of twenty yeares and have found very good profit by it But whether this be caused by the difference of the ground and Marle appearing also hereby that in Connaught they scarce lay the fourth part of the quantity of Marle on the ground of what they doe in the County of Wexford or by the carelesness or want of experience of those of that County I am not yet fully informed But thus much is known as well in Connaught as other parts that those who sow the Marled-land untill it can bear no more and be quite out of heart wil find it exceeding difficult if not altogether impossible ever to amend or improve
the same again by any means whatsoever CHAP. XIII Of the Heaths and Moores or Bogs in Ireland Sect. 1. Of the Moory or Boggy-heaths HAving spoke of the fruitfull lands of Ireland it followeth that we treat of those which are neither fit for the bringing of Corn or feeding of Cattle some being such for want of good soyl and others through superfluous moysture Of the first sort are those places where the ground consisting of meer rock sand or earth naturally unfruitful hath no good mold at the top sufficient for Corn or Grass to root and to draw convenient nourishment out of it the ground being bare or over-grown onely with Moss Heath Furze Brakes Thorns Rushes and the like The places whose ground is bare are nothing frequent nor of any great bigness in Ireland and rather on the Sea-side than within the land But the other are very common throughout the whole Kingdom not only in the Mountains many whereof do for the most part consist of nothing else but also in the Hilly-quarters the Plain-countries and in many places of great extent taking up some miles in length and breadth Most of these Wasts in the Plain-countries and Valleys as also some on the Mountains and Hils are Moory and Boggy fit for to dig Turf out to the great commodity of the inhabitants in places where other fuel is wanting So that these parts of Land although barren and producing no kind of thing for the food of man or beasts may not be reckoned in the number of those which are altogether unprofitable being of good use in the parts far distant from the Sea where they can have no Sea-coales and where Woods are wanting nor well live Some of these dry or red Bogs as commonly they are called the first in comparison of those whereof presently shall be spoken the other because the earth in them for the most part is reddish and over-grown with Mosâ— of the same colour are in some parts of a vast extent instance that by the Shanon-side beginning hard by Atlone and following the course of the River down towards Limmerick which being two or three miles broad in most parts is said to be upwards of fifty miles in length Sect. 2. Of the dry Heaths There are some dry Heaths in Ireland for the most part on the mountains and very few in the plain countries to the contrary of England where as well as in Netherland Germany and other countries those Heaths on plain ground are very common in sundrie parts of the land and many of them of a great extent having very many miles in compass and where any such dry Heaths are in Ireland the land for the most part is not altogether barren but graâ—sy between and at the bottome of the heath so as the heath being burnt a thing much used in Ireland both by the English and Irish the land bringeth reasonable good and sweet grass fit for sheep to feed on and with a little extraordinary labour and costs brought to bear corn Others of these Heaths are grassie having the grass growing not all over among the heath but in spaces by it self as upon the Heath between the town of Kildare and the Liffie which is famous over all Ireland by the name of the Currogh of Kildare being a hilly ground at its highest neer the said town from thence towards the Liffie descending by degrees about three miles long and two or three broad divided into rowes of heath and grass which being of no great breadth and many in number doe ly by the â—ide one of another throughout the whole earth each of those rowes extending it self in length from the one end of the Currogh to the other The rowes of Heath are about a stone cast over in some places in some more in others less but those of grass a good deal narrower than the others being alwayes alike green and dry in the winter as well as the summer and clothed with short grass but very sweet and good very convenient for sheep to feed on of the which alwaies in time of peace a very great number is grazing here the whole Currogh being a Commons Sect. 3. Of the Wet Bogs The places barren through superfluous moisture are bogs called by the Irish Moones whereof Ireland is full There is three or four different sorts of them grassy watery muddy and Hassocky as appeareth more largely by the following description But the English Irish have given the name of Bogs not only to the wet of which we are now to treat but aswell to the turf moores of all sorts not excepting the red bog which in most places is firm enough to bear a man or unshod nagge going over it but is not for any great weight But we shall in the following chapters speak in order of the four sorts of wet bggs which above wee have mentioned and afterwards in its due place treat of the turf and red moores as occasion shall require Sect. 4. Of the Grassie Bogs The grassy Bogs are all over covered with grass looking fair and pleasant as if they were dry ground and goodly meadowes whereby many who not knowing the nature of those places and because of the greeness suspecting no evill goe into them to their great trouble and many times to the extreme danger of their lives for the earth being very spongy can bear no weight but as well men as beast assoon as they set foot on it doe sink to the ground some knee deep others to the wast and many over head and ears for all or most bogs in Ireland having underneath a hard and firm gravell are not of an equall depth which in some is only of two or three feet in others five six or more in somuch that those who fall into the deepest places of these bogs can hardly escape but for the most part doe perish being pittifully smothered Some of these bogs doe so dry up in the summer that they may be passed without danger the which in particular falleth out in the great Mountaines in Munster in the county of Kerry called Slew-Logher upon which all kind of cattle doe grase the summer long being every where full of good and sweet grass knee deep in most places whereof not the tenth part being eaten for if all the cattle of that Province were driven thither and left all the summer upon the place it would hardly be consumed the rest is spoyled when the wet weather cometh in and stayeth the rain-water from descending through which the ground rotteth in that manner that all winter long it is unpassable for men and beasts But the deepest bogs are unpassable in the summer as well as in the winter yet most of them have firm places in narrow paths in some larger parcels by the meanes whereof those unto whom they are known can cross them from one side to another where others who are not used to them doe not know in what part to set one step in which
nimble trick called commonly treading of the Bogs most Irish are very expert as having been trained up in it from their infancy The firm places in passing or but lightly shaking them tremble for a great way which hath given them the name of Shaking-Bogs and where they are but of a small compass Quagmires Sect. 5. Of the Watery-Bogs and of the Miry-Bogs The Watery-bogs are likewise clothed with Grass but the water doth not sink altogether into them as into the former but remaineth in part standing on the top in the same manner as in some of the Grassie-bogs and in all the low Pastures and Meddows of Holland by reason whereof these Bogs are not dangerous for every one at the first sight may easily discern them from the firm ground These two sorts are in many parts found apart and in others mixt and interlaced and likewise parcels both of the one and the other are found up and down in the Moory-heaths and Red-bogs Both these sorts as well the watery as the Green-Bogs yeeld for the most part very good Turf much better than the Red-Bogs whereof more shall be spoken hereafter The Miry-Bogs do consist of meer Mud and Mire with very little or no grass upon them These are commonly of a very small compass whereas most part of the other two are of a notable extent and some of several miles in length and breadth Sect. 6. Of the Hassockie-bogs Hassockie-bogs we call those whose ground being miry and muddy is covered over with water a foot or two deep in some places more in others less so as one would sooner take them for Loughs were it not that they are very thick over-spread with little Tufts or Ilets the which consisting of Reeds Rushes high sower Grass and sometimes with little Shrubs for the most part are very small and have but a few feet in compass some of them being of the bigness of a reasonable big chamber These little Ilets or Tufts being so many in number and spread over all the Bog there remaineth nothing between them but great Plashes of water in regard whereof these Bogs might well be called Plashy-Bogs in some places wider in others narrower so as from the one men may well step or leap to the other that which those who are expert in it know how to do very nimble and so to run from one part of the Bog to another For the roots of the Rushes Reeds and other things growing on those Tufts are so interwoven that they can easily bear a man who lightly treadeth upon them although they have very little earth and are wondrous spungy so as they when the water being drained the Bog is dried round about may easily be plucked from the ground The English inhabiting in Ireland have given these Tufts the name of Hassocks and this sort of Bogs Hassocky-bogs Of which Bogs Munster and other Provinces are not altogether free but most of them are found in Leinster especially in Kings and Queens-county where also the othtr sorts of Bogs are very common whereas otherwise Connaught is generally fuller of Bogs than any of the other Provinces CHAP. XIV Originall of the Bogs in Ireland and the manner of Draining them practised there by the English Inhabitants Sect. 1. Of the originall of Bogs in this Countrie VEry few of the Wet-bogs in Ireland are such by any naturall property or primitive constitution but through the superfluous moysture that in length of time hath been gathered therein whether it have its originall within the place it self or be come thither from without The first of these two cases taketh place in the most part of the Grassie-bogs which ordinarily are occasioned by Springs the which arising in great number out of some parcel of ground and finding no issue do by degrers soak through and bring it to that rottenness and spunginess which nevertheless is not a little increased through the rain water comming to that of the Springs But the two other sorts viz. the Waterie and Hassockie-bogs are in some places caused by the rain-water onely as in others through brooks and rivelets running into them and in some through both together whereunto many times also cometh the cause of the Grassi-bogs to wit the store of Springs within the very ground and all this in places where or through the situation of them and by reason of their even plainness or hollowness or through some other impediment the water hath no free passage away but remaineth within them and so by degrees turneth them into Bogs Sect. 2. Retchlesness of the Irish cause of most of the Bogs Of trees found in Bogs So that it may easily be comprehended that whoso could drain the water and for the future prevent the gathering thereof might reduce most of the Bogs in Ireland to firm land and preserve them in that condition But this hath never been known to the Irish or if it was they never went about it but to the contrarie let daily more more of their good land grow boggy through their carelesness whereby also most of the Bogs at first were caused This being otherwise evident enough may further be confirmed by the whole bodies of trees which ordinarily are found by the turf-diggers very deep in the ground as well of other trees as of Hasels likewise they meet sometimes with the very Nuts themselves in great quantity the which looking very fair and whole at the outside as if they came but newly 〈…〉 have no kernell within the same through the great length of time beeing consumed and turned into filth And it is worthie of observation that trees truncks of trees are in this manner found not only in the Wet bogs but even in the Heathy ones or Red bogs as by name in that by the Shanon-side wherof hath been spoken above in which bog the turf diggers many times doe find whole Firr-trees deep in the ground whether it be that those trees being fallen are by degrees sunk deeper and deeper the earth of that Bog almost every where being very loose and spungy as it is in all such Bogs or that the earth in length of time bee grown over them Sect. 3. Draining of the Bogs practised by the English in Ireland But as the Irish have been extreme careless in this so the English introducers of all good things in Ireland for which that brutish nation from time to time hath rewarded them with unthankfulnes hatred and envy and lately with a horrible and bloody conspiracie tending to their utter destruction have set their industrie at work for to remedy it and having considered the nature of the Bogs and how possible it was to reduce many of them unto good land did some yeares since begin to goe about it all over the land and that with very good success so as I know Gentlemen who turned into firm land three or four hundred acres of Bog and in case that this detestable rebellion had not come between in a few yeares
there would scarce have been left one acre of Bog of what was in the lands and possessiion of the English except onely those places whose situation is altogether repugnant to draining because that the water either through the hollowness of the place as in the inclosed valleyes and deep dales between the hils and mountaines or through the too great evenness plainness of the ground not inclining to any one part more than another cannot be drawn away at all and except such parcels as needs must have been kept for turf and Red bogs who are very unfit for draining for the trenches being made the earth on both sides will sink into them again and choak them up Sect. 4. Profit reaped by the draining of Bogs This draining of the Bogs as it tended not a little to the generall good of the whole land by amending of the Air wherof we shall have occasion to say more in some other place and otherwise so it brought great profit unto the Authors for the land or soil of the Bogs being in most places good of it self and there besides greatly enriched by the lying still and the soaking in of the water for the space of so many yeares the same being dryed through the draining of the water is found to be very sit either to have corn sowed upon or to be turned into pastures making also excellent meadowes so as those who have tried that doe affirm that the meadowes gained out of the Bogs might be compared with the very best of their other meadowes yea many times surpassed the same in goodness this took place chiefly in the Grassie bogs or Shakking bogs whose fruitfulness in this particular in the plentifull production of very sweet and deep grass after the draining off the water was very wonderfull and all this without any other trouble or costs bestowed upon these Meddows than that they dunged them the first year to warm them the better and the sooner and more thoroughly to amend the remainders of that coldness and rawness contracted through that long and constant continuance of the water upon them after which once dunging afterwards for a good many yeares nothing else needed to be done to them Sect. 5. The manner of draining the Bogs This draining of the Bogs was performed in the manner following On that side of the Bog where the ground was somewhat sloaping they cut a broad deep Trench beginning it in the firm ground and advancing it unto the entrance of the Bog into which Trench the water would sink out of the next parts of the Bog in great abundance and that many times so suddenly as if a great sluce had been opened so as the labourers were constrained to run out of it with all speed lest the â—orce of the water should overwhelm and carry them away Some part of the Bog being by this meanes grown reasonable dry within a short space of time opportunity thereby was ministred to advance the Trench further into the Bog and so by little and little they went on with it untill at last they carryed it quite across the Bog from the one side to the other And having done this they made a great many lesser Trenches out of the main one on both sides of the same the which bringing the water from all the parts of the Bog unto the main Trench did in a little while empty the Bog of all its superfluous moysture and turn it into good and firm ground Sect. 6. Observation about the falling and setling of the Bogs at their draining The Green or Grassie-bogs the which having all their moysture and water inwardly are thereby wonderfully swelled and pust up use by means of this draining to fall very much and to grow a great deal lower and that not only apparently so that the ground which before the drayning was five or six feet high commeth at last to be not above two or three feet high but sometimes also suddenly and within the space of four and twenty or eight and forty houres whereas ordinarily that useth to come to pass in greater length of time and although the ground by falling in this manner may seem thereby to have been subject to return to its former boggy condition on the least occasion nevertheless there was no danger of that as long as the Trenches were kept open and thereby the passage kept free for the water which from time to time would from all parts of the drayned Bog be sinking into them This water as at the first draining so ever after was by the main Trench carryed unto some Brook River or Lough according as one or other of them was next at hand and the situation of the land would give opportunity CHAP. XV. Of the Woods in Ireland Sect. 1. Woods in Ireland are reckoned among the barren lands and the reason thereof AMongst the barren parts of Ireland the Woods must also be counted according to the usuall division of the lands of that Kingdom whereby reckoning for fruitfull onely the Meddows Arable-grounds and Pastures they count all the rest for barren comprehending them under these three generall heads Bogs Barren-Mountains and Woods Which division as it is in the mouth of all them that have any insight into the matters of that Land and do or have lived there so it is further confirmed by a number of Writings and Monuments both of ancienter times and late ones in the which it is very common and familiar As for instance may appear by those several Acts which since this last Rebellion of the Irish have been made by the Parliament of England in the behalf of the Adventurers who have layd out their monyes for the reconquering of the revolted parts of that Kingdom For although the land which the Woods doe take up is in it self very good in most places and apt to bear both Corn and Grass plentifully whereof more shall be sayd by and by yet as long as the Woods remain standing it is unfit not only to be made either Arable or Meddow as in it self is most evident but even for Pasture by reason of the overmuch moysture the roots of the trees staying the rain-water so as it hath not the liberty to pass away readily and their stems and branches hindering the free access of the Wind and Sun whereunto cometh in many parts the grounds own wateriness occasioned by Springs there arising and by its situation apt for the gathering and keeping of water which maketh them for the most part so muddy and boggy that cattle cannot conveniently feed in them Sect. 2. Woods much diminished in Ireland since the first comming in of the English In antient times and as long as the land was in the full possession of the Irish themselves all Ireland was very full of Woods on every side as evidently appeareth by the writings of Giraldus Cambrensis who came into Ireland upon the first Conquest in the company of Henry the second King of England in the year of
whereby the melting of the Iron is greatly furthered and the furnace made to work more mildly Within the barn at the bottome of the furnace stand constantly two men one of each side the which with long iron hooks through holes left for the purpose doe every quarter of an hour draw out the unburnt coales ashes and cinders which cinders are great lumps of a firm substance but brittle of a blackish colour shining but not transparent being nothing else but the remainder of the Iron-oar after that the Iron which was contained in it is melted out on 't The Iron it self descendeth to the lowest part of the furnace called the Hearth the which being filled so that if one stayed longer the Iron would begin to swim over through the aforesaid holes they unstop the Hearth and open the mouth thereof or the Timpas the Arts-men call it taking away a little door of fashion like unto that of a bakers oven wherewith the same was shut up very close The floor of the barn hath a mold of sand upon it where-in before they open the furnace a furrow is made of sufficient breadth and depth through the whole length of the barn from the bottom of the furnace until the barns door into which furrow as soon as the furnace is opened the molten Iron runneth very suddenly and forcibly being to look on like unto a stream or current of fire It remaineth a long time hot but doth presently loose its liquidness and redness turning into a hard and stiff mass which masâ—es are called Sowes by the workmen Sect. 8. Of the different Bigness of the Iron Sowes These Masses or Sowes of Iron are not alwaies of one and the same weight and bigness but there is them of all sizes from one hundred weight untill thirtie hundred which difference doth chiefly depend on the different bigness of the furnace and hearth and partly on the will and discretion of the workmaster or founder and according as he either stayeth untill the hearth be full or letteth out the Iron sooner but ordinarily they doe not use to cast or to open the hearth under less than twelve houres nor to stay much longer than four-and-twenty And here is to be observed that even in furnaces of the same biguess yea in the self-same furnaces the same quantity of Iron is not alwaies cast in the same space of time but that varieth both according to the nature of the Oar and according to the different seasons of the year For within the same compasse of time you shall cast a greater quantitie of Iron out of a rich Mine or Oar than out of a lean one and in the summer time when the Coales come in dry and fresh than in the winter Sect. 9. Of the refining of the Sow-Iron and the hammering it into Barres The Soweâ— are with teams of Oxen drawn to the Hammer-works where being put into the fire again they melt them into the finerie the Finer turning the melted stuff to and fro till it come to be a solid body then he carrieth it under the hammer where it is hammered out into such flat narrow and thin bars as are to be seen every where the hammers being huge big ones and never ceasing from knocking day nor night as being kept at work by the means of certain wheels turned about by Water-courses in the same manner as the wheels of the Bellows By means of this second melting and of that mighty hammering the Iron is freed from a mighty deal of dross and dregs which it kept sticking to it thorough its whole substance in the first melting and so of impure called Sow-Iron becometh to be usefull such as is accustomed to be delivered unto Merchants being therefore called Merchants-Iron one Tun whereof is usually had out of a Tun and a half of Sow-Iron but if that be of the best sort and cast of the best Oare two hundred pounds less of it will yeeld the aforesayd quantity of a Tun of Merchants-Iron CHAP. XVIII Of the Mines of Silver and Lead in Ireland and occasionally of the pestiferous Damps and Vapours within the Earth Sect. 1. Of the severall Mines of Silver and Lead and in particular that of Tipperary MInes of Lead and Sâ—lver in Ireland have to this day been found out three in number one in Ulster in the County of Antrim very rich forasmuch as with every thirty pounds of Lead it yeeldeth a pound of pure Silver another in Connaught upon the very Harbour-mouth of Sligo in a little Demy-Iland commonly called Conny-Iland and a third in Munster The first two having been discovered but a few years before this present Rebellion were through several impediments never taken in hand yet wherefore we shall speak only of the third This Mine standeth in the County of Tipperary in the Barony of Upper-Ormond in the Parish of Kilmore upon the Lands of one Iohn Mac-Dermot O-kennedy not far from the Castle of Downallie twelve miles from Limmerick and threescore from Dublin The land where the Mine is is mountainous and barren but the bottoms and the lands adjoyning are very good for Pasture and partly Arable of each whereof the Miners had part to the value of twenty pounds sterling per annum every one It was found out not above forty years agoe but understood at the first onely as a Lead-mine and accordingly given notice of to Donogh Earl of Thomond then Lord President of Munster who made use of some of the Lead for to cover the house which he then was building at Bunrattie But afterwards it hath been found that with the Lead of this Mine there was mixed some Silver Sect. 2. The manner of digging this Mine the nature of the Oare and what proportions of Silver and Lead it yeelds The Veins of this Mine did commonly rise within three or four spits of the superficies and they digged deeper as those Veines went digging open pits very far into the ground many fathoms deep yea Castle-deep the pits not being steep but of that fashion as people might go in and out with Wheel-barrows being the onely way used by them for to carry out the Mine or Oare The water did seldom much offend them for when either by the falling of much rain or by the discovering of some Spring or Water-source they found themselves annoyed by it they did by Conduits carry it away to a brook adjoyning the Mountain being so situate as that might be done easily This Mine yeelds two different sorts of Oare of which the one and that the most in quantitie is of a reddish colour hard and glistering the other is like a Marle somthing blâ—wish and more soft than the red and this was counted the best producing most Silver whereas the other or glistering sort was very barren and went most away into litteridge or dross The Oar yeelded one with another three pound weight of Silver out of each Tun but a great quantity of Lead so as that was counted the best
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 Freâ—-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 togethâ—r which as they are oâ— 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
England Wales and Scotland in great abundance and therefore reasonable cheap which is the reason that the less care hath been taken to find out Coal-mines in Ireland it self whereas otherwise it is the opinion of persons knowing in these matters that if diligent search were made for them in sundry parts of the land good Coal-mines would be discovered This opinion is the more probable because that already one Coal mine hath bin found out in Ireland a few yeares since by meer hazard and without having been sought for The Mine is in the Province of Leinster in the County of Carlo seven miles from Idof in the same hill where the Iron-mine was of Mr. Christopher Wandsworth of whom hath been spoken above In that Iron-mine after that for a great while they had drawn Iron-oar out of it and that by degrees they were gone deeper at last in lieu of Oar they met with Sea-coal so as ever since all the people dwelling in those parts have used it for their firing finding it very cheap for the load of an Irish-car drawn by one Garron did stand them besides the charges of bringing it in nine pence only three pence to the digger and six pence to the owner There be Coals enough in this Mine for to furnish a whole Country nevertheless there is no use made of them further than among the neighbouring inhabitants because the Mine being situated far from Rivers the transportation is too chargeable by land These Coals are very heavy and burn with little flame but lye like Char-coal and continue so the space of seven or eight hours casting a very great and violent heat In the place where this Mine standeth do lye little Smith-coals above the ground dispersed every where in great quantity from whence the Smiths dwelling in the parts round about did use to come and fetch them even before the Mine was discovered CHAP. XX. Of the Turf Lime and Brick and the manner of making those things in Ireland item of the Glass made in Ireland Sect. 1. Of the two sorts of Irish-turf TUrf being very much used throughout all the land as we have sayd before is of two sorâ—s according to the difference of the Bogâ— out of the which it is taken That which is taken out of the Dry-bogs or Red-bogs is light spungy of a reddish colour kindleth easily and burneth very clear but doth not last The other to the contrary which is raised out of the green or wet Bogs is heavy firm black doth not burn so soon nor with so great a flame but lasteth a great while and maketh a very hot fire and leaveth foul yellowish ashes It is the observation of women that the linnen which is dryed by a fire made of this last sort of Turf getteth a foul colour be it never so white washed and bleeched and groweth yellowish in that manner as that it can hardly be got out again Sect. 2. The manner of making the Turf The first sort of Turf costeth but little paines in the making for being digged and having â—yen some dayes a drying first spread out thin and single upon the ground and afterwards piled up in little heaps it is brought into the Barn But black Turf cannot be made without more trouble First they mark out convenient places for onely those are fit for it to which some paths do lead and which in themselves are not too mirie and too deep but have a firm sandy ground underneath within the space of four or five feet or thereabouts Having found out such a place if it be too watery they make some trenches into which the water descending out of that part of the Bog wherein they intend to work may by them be carried to some place fit for to receive it to the end that the Bog being thereby grown somewhat dryer and firmer may the better bear the Labourers without sâ—nking too deep into it Then they fall to the business dividing it so among the Labourers that one part of them do dig out the earth or rather the mud for all the earth whereof this Turf is made is thin and muddy and by spadeâ—-full cast it on a heap either by the â—ide of the pit or some where within the same where others stand who very well work it turning it to and fro and then with their shovels fill it into certain woodden trayes amongst the English in Ireland peculiarly called Lossels the which being full another part of the Labourers draw the same with great cords fastened to them to some dry place within the Bog or by the side thereof where having poured out the mud they go back to fetch more and so go to and fro all day long On that dry place where the mud is poured forth sit certain women upon their knees who mold the mud using nothing else to it but their hands between the which taking a part of it they press them together in that manner that their hands meeting above the turf is fashioned flat and broad beneath growing narrower towards the top which being done the Turf is let lye upon the ground the space of a week or more according as the weather is and being reasonably well dryed it is piled up in little heaps leaving every where empty spaces between that the air and the wind passing through them they may dry the sooner Sect. 3. The charges of making Turf Ireland is so full of Bogs that every man almost hath Bog enough upon his own land to make Turf for his family and for all his Tenants so that the Turf doth cost most men no more than the hire of the Labourers who are employed about it Those that begun early in the year whilst the Labourers had but little employment gave ordinarily besides meat and drink three pence sterling a day to every man and two pence to every woman four pence a day being the ordinary price and when it was was at the dearest five pence Twenty men made in two or three dayes as much Turf as was sufficient for the whole years firing of a great family of which number five men did dig and cast up the mud five wrought it and filled it into the trays and ten were busied in drawing the trays to the place where the Turf was molded by the women who went so nimbly to work with it that onely two of them were sufficient to keep twenty men at work Sect. 4. Of the Lime and the manner of making it of Lime-stone All the Lime in Ireland is made not of the shels of all sorts of shel-fish as in Holland and some other Countries but onely of stone and the gray Free-stone whereof we have spoken in the precedent Chapter is very fit for it especially when it is not newly come out of the Quarrie but taken off old buildings But a peculiar sort of stone properly called Lime-stone is best for it This stone is of a gray colour tending to a dark blew which being broke a white dust
nor any other heights betwixt the Strand and the land it being only defended from the overflowing of the Sea by an unsensible rising Sect. 2. Of the high and hilly Shoares of Ireland In other places the land is high and hilly on the sea-side part whereof doth descend by degrees towards the sea having a Strand below but elswhere the land is high and steep being washed underneath by the deep sea so as ships of a great burthen may sayl close by it the which may be observed not onely in the Heads or Capes the most part whereof are thus fashioned but in many other places in great extents of the coast For as concerning the saying of Giraldus that Ireland every where upon the coast is very low Est per omnia sui latera a marináque littora terra valdè demissa that is evidently repugnant to the truth Some of these high Shoars are bare naked Rocks covered with very little or no earth so as scarce any thing groweth upon them but dry grass and heath others are stony within but have at the top a reasonable deep mould and all over cloathed with good grass some of them being so exceeding steep towards the Sea-side that it is imposible for man or beast being come to the further end to go one step further without falling down and being lost So as it hath happened that cattle and sheep feeding in those places when they were come to the top and following the grass suddenly tumbled down falling head-long into the sea or upon the hard sharp Rocks standing at the bottom Sect. 3. Capes on the East-side of Ireland The Heads or Capes of Ireland are in great number and many of them very observable to the great commodity of the Sea-faring men In the South-Easterliest point of Ireland is the Cape of Greenore five or six miles to the South of the Bay of Wexford being not very high but steep and flat at the top and three or four miles to the South-West from it is the point of Carnarord Betwixt Wexford and Dublin there bee five Heads That of Glascarick which the Dutch Mariners call the Blew-point and the Steeppoint twelve miles to the North of the Bay of Wexford being of no great height That of Glaskermen or Arklo being weâ—-near at the same distance from the Head of Glascarick as that is from the Bar of Wexford Missan head some nine or ten miles further to the North. The Head of Wickloe six miles beyond Missan-head being steep and rocky divided at the top into two little Hillocks And the fifth and last of all that of Bray about fifteen miles beyond Wickloe and five or six miles to the South of the Bay of Dublin being a great and high Cape shooting a good way into the Sea and so steep that it is ten fathomes deep there close under the land On the North-side of Dublin-bay is the Head of Houth a great high Mountain three or four miles compass in the bottom having the sea on all sides except the West-side where with a long narrow neck it is joyned to the land which neck being low ground one may from either side see the sea over it so that afar off it seemeth as if it were an Iland This Head may be seen a great way off at sea for even upon the land one may very perfectly see it not only upon the Key of Dublin which is six miles from thence but nine or ten miles further Westward Upon all the coast from the Head of Houth to Dondrom being the space of about threescore miles is none considerable But some miles beyond Dondrom and three or four miles at this side the Haven of Arglas is St. Johns-point a Head and Fore-land which shooteth a good way into the Sea The next Head beyond St. Johns is the point at the North-side of the Haven of Strangford which the Dutch Mariners by a notable mistake call the point of Arglas All these Capes lye on the East-side of Ireland whose utmost point Northward is the Promontory of Fair-foreland Sect. 4. Capes on the North-side of Ireland About fifty miles to the West of Fair-foreland and well near the middle of the North-coast is the Head of Enyston which with the land next adjoyning lyeth much more Northward and runneth further out into the sea than any other land upon this coast being of a great height so as it may easily bee known by any that once have seen it Some forty miles more Westward beyond this Promontory lyeth the Cape which is known by the name of Horn-head being a Hill with two hommocks at the top in fashion somewhat like unto two horns from whence it hath received its denomination Sect. 5. Capes on the West-side of Ireland Upon the West-side of the Irish coast are four principal Heads viz. Tellin-head lying about thirty miles to the South-West of the Iles of Aran the which are situated over against the North-Westerlyest point of Ireland Akil-head some miles to the South of Broad-haven being not on the Main but in an Iland Sline-head which by the Sea-faring men is called Twelve-pence because the land sheweth it self in twelve round hommocks being situated well near in the middle of the West-coast And Lupis-head which is the Northern-point of the Haven of Limmerick As for the other Heads upon the same West-side namely those three betwixt the Haven of Slego and Broad-haven by the Irish Pilots called Can-Moin Can-Killaloy and Can-Jores Can in Irish betokeneth a Head in all sorts of significations Renilira and Clegan between Akil-head and Sline-head which last the Irish call Can-Leme Brain and Calew situated to the South of the Bay of Galloway and Can-Sanan being the South-point of the Bay of Limmerick those are less considerable Sect. 6. Heads on the Southern Coasts of Ireland Upon the South-West-side of Ireland the principall Heads are Cape-Dorses situated in an Iland of the same name betwixt the two great Bays of Maire and Bantree and Messan-head situated betwixt the Bayes of Bantree and Baltimore being the same in Camdens opinion which Ptolomie calleth Notium that is Southern it being the most Southerly point of all Ireland Upon the South-East-side is the Head of Clare standing in an Iland on the East-side of the Bay of Baltimore and a great way from thence the old Head of Kinsale called Cape Velho by the Dutch Mariners which Head to those that come sayling along the land afar off seemeth to be an Iland being a point which shooteth a great way into the sea whose utmost or most Southerly end is very high and steep Upon the same side standeth the Head of Ardimore which runneth a great way into the sea from the land on both sides and because of its height may be seen many miles off CHAP. V. Of the Sands or Grounds Blind-Rocks and other Rocks in the Irish sea Sect. 1. Of the Grounds before the Coast betwixt Dublin and VVexford THe Sea which invironeth Ireland is as free from Shelves