Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/433

Rh C O li K 403 comparatively level, being a portion of the great plain which occupies a large part of the centre of Ireland. Of the principal rivers the Blackwater has its source in the county of Limerick. The Lee originates in Goughanbarra Lake, and the Bandon River rises in the Cullinagh Lake. There are also some smaller streams which flow directly into the sea, the more important of these being in the south west portion of the county. No lakes of any magnitude occur, the largest being Inchigeelagh, which is an expansion of the River Lee between Macroom and its source. Of the total area 14,368 acres are covered with water. The scenery of the western parts of the county is bold and rugged. In the central and eastern parts, especially in the valleys, it is green and sheltered, and in, some spots well wooded. Geology and Minerals. With reference to the geology of the county, the hills are principally composed of Old Red Sandstone, which is the lowest formation that occurs. In the western and mountainous districts these rocks consist of purple and green- coloured sandstones and grits &quot; Glengarriff grits&quot; which are several thousand feet thick. In the central and eastern districts the same rocks occur in the form of brownish purple sandstone and shales &quot; brounstones.&quot; The veins are highly contorted, and form anticlinal axes, and they exhibit change in various degrees. They are locally extensively used as building stones, and are usually spli t along their cleavage planes. These Old Red Sandstones have afforded no traces of fossils in this county. Upon the &quot; brounstones, &quot; the highest member of the Old Red Sandstones, the &quot; Yellow Sandstones &quot; occur. They have a thickness of about 800 feet, and afford fossil plants, shells, and crustaceans. To the Yellow Sandstone succeeds the base of the Carboniferous group. These consist of black slaty rock &quot; Carboniferous slabs.&quot; In the eastern parts of the county these strata rise about 900 feet thick ; westwards they increase greatly, being at the Old Head of Kinsale about G500 feet in thickness. They have at their base grey gritty beds of varying thickness the &quot; Coomhola grits.&quot; Both members of the series are fossiliferous, and the Car boniferous slates have been extensively worked in many localities for roofing. They are, however, much inferior to the Bangor slates. The principal valleys in the county of Cork, except in the case of the Bandon River, are in their lower parts occupied by Carboniferous limestone, overlying the Carboni ferous slate and occurring at synclinal troughs. The lime stones are commonly light grey in colour and of great thick ness. For the most part they are very pure carbonate of lime, thick-bedded and compact. Some are used as marbles, but their most extensive application is as building stones, which are durable and of good colour. In the neighbour hood of the city of Cork (Little Island), near the centre of the synclinal trough, a brecciated red limestone is worked, being polished as a marble. It is known as &quot; Red Cork Marble.&quot; In some localities near the city of Cork the limestone is dolomitic, and is extensively quarried for the manufacture of magnesia. Some portions of the limestones are very fossiliferous. Near Mallow it is thin-bedded and contains nodules of schist. Succeeding the limestone, which represents the scar limestone and Yoredale series of England, are shales and flags, equivalents of the millstone grits, on which lie the coal measures south of Kanturk. The coal is anthracitic, very irregular in thickness, and highly inclined. The strata are much contorted and crushed, the coal frequently occurring in &quot; pockets.&quot; Several seams are known, some of which are worked. These coals have only a local sale, being used principally for lime-burning. In the south-west part of the county igneous rocks are partially developed. Copper pyrites was formerly exten sively mined in the south-west of the county, especially at Berehaven or Allihies, the rocks more prolific in copper being the Yellow Sandstone series. Little is now being done at those or other copper mines in the county. Lead also occurs in small veins, but not in sufficient quantity to be worked. Near Glandore manganese, mostly in the form of psilomelane, has been largely worked, but is now abandoned. Clay which is used for brick-making occurs near Youghal, where there are extensive potteries. Bricks are also made from the silty clay deposited by the River Lee on small islands in the Douglas Channel. Climate. The climate is moist and warm, the pre vailing winds being from the west and south-west. The rain fall in the city is about 40 inches per annum, that of the whole county being somewhat higher, about 44 inches. The mean average annual temperature is about 52 Fahr. The snow-fall during the winter is usually slight, and snow rarely remains long on the ground except in sheltered places. The thermal spring of Mallow was formerly in considerable repute ; it is situated in a basin on the banks of the Black- water, rising from the base of a limestone hill. It has been long celebrated for the cure of pulmonary, chlorotic, stomach, and urinary complaints, in the cure of which its waters are said to be very efficacious. The temperature of the water, 72 Fahr., is nearly invariable. The climate of Mallow is soft and agreeable. The chief places for sea bathing are Blackrock, Passage, Monkstown, and Queens- town in the vicinity of Cork ; Kinsale, Ballycotton, and Youghal are also much frequented by invalids during the summer months. Fisheries. The Kinsale fishery, now established about fifteen years, promises to be the most remunerative of the industrial resources of the south of Ireland. The mackerel- fishery in 1875 commenced as usual about the middle of March, and lasted to the second week in June, at which time over 185,000 worth of fish was caught and purchased from the fishermen. In 1876 there were engaged in the trade 383 boats from Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Howth, Arklow, and Kinsale, the proportion from the last-named place numbering 60. There were also twenty-two hulks in the harbour used as icehouses, on the deck of which the fish was packed for the English markets. Eight Norwegian barks laden with ice arrived. These, with eleven steamers especially chartered for the fish trade, fifteen Jersey trading cutters for conveying fish, and three Cork tugs, comprised the staff of the local trade. The fishing boats are supplied with trains of nets, 2| miles in length and 8 feet in depth. They start early in the morning for the fishing grounds, and at sunset let down the nets. They are floated with small pieces of cork, and the bottom of the nets is sunk by heavy ropes. They are allowed to drift all night, and the mackerel are caught by running their heads into the meshes of the net. They are purchased by the fish-buyers, packed in boxes containing 120 each, and immediately forwarded per steamer to Bristol, Milford, and Holyhead, for Birming ham, London, Manchester, and Liverpool. The fishery extends from Cape Clear nearly to Cork Harbour. Hake, cod, and haddock, which were formerly taken in great abund ance here, seem to have in a great measure left the coast. Agriculture. The soils of the county exhibit no great variety. They may be reduced in number to four : the calcareous in the limestone districts ; the deep mellow loams found in districts remote from limestone, and generally occurring in the less elevated parts of the grey and red sandstone districts ; the light shallow soils, and the moor land or peat soils, the usual substratum of which is coarse retentive clay. In a district of such extent and variety of surface, the state of agriculture must be liable to much variation. The more populous parts near the sea, and in the vicinity pf