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land_n	find_v	great_a	king_n	3,579	5	3.5272	3	true

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

finding an open entrance and twice a day with the Tide fully flowing into them maketh the water so salt And it would be no great error to take all those Loughs wherein that happeneth viz. Lough Cone in the County of Down Lough-Foile in the County of Colrain Lough-suille in Tirconnell and the Lough of Cork rather for Inlets of the Sea than for Lakes although the Inhabitants hold them all to be Loughs and give them the name of Loughs And in this number is also to be put that great Lough betwixt Limmerick and the sea through which the Shanon dischargeth it self into the sea of the which we have already spoke once or twice heretofore Sect. 4. Of Lough-Earne Lough-Neaugh and the rest of the great Loughs Amongst the great Loughs of Sweet-water are far the principallest Lough-Earne Lough-Neaugh the first of which is situated in the confines of Ulster and Connaught being in effect two different Loughs joyned together onely by a short and narrow chanel of which two that which lyeth farthest within the land doth extend it self in a manner directly North and South but the second which is next to the sea doth lye East and West so that both together they have the fashion of a bended elbow being both very broad in the midst growing by degrees narrower towards both the ends Lough-Neaugh lyeth in the North-Easterly part of Ulster bordering upon the Counties of Tirone Armagh Down Antrim and Colrain being of a round or rather somwhat ovall figure Next in bigness to these two is Lough-Corbes the same on whose neather-end the City Galloway is seated The two Loughs thorough which the Shanon passeth Lough-Ree and Lough-Dirg item Lough-Fingarrow in Connaught betwixt the Counties of Maio and Roscomen In the last place as the least of this sort are Lough-Allen out of which the Shanon taketh his originall being nine miles long and three miles broad Lough-Me●ke situated betwixt Lough-Fingarrow and the Lough of Galloway And Lough-Larne in the County of Kerry in Munster not far from the upper-end of those two famous Bayes Dingle and Maire The least of these is some miles long and broad and many miles in circuit but the biggest are of so vast a compass that they are more like a Sea than a Lough Sect. 5. Of the Ilands in the Loughs Most of these great Loughs are very full of little Ilands and above all Lough-Earne in which the same are numberless In Lough-Cone also there is so great a number that those who inhabit about it affirm them to bee two hundred and threescore Lough-Ree and Lough-Dirg are likewise very full of them And there is also a good many in Lough-Fingarrow Lough-Larne and Suille But Lough-Foile is very free from them and in the Lough of Cork there is not above one or two as likewise in Lough-Neaugh in which they lye near to the ●ides leaving the midst altogether free Very few of these Ilands are inhabited or planted but the most part being plentifully cloathed with very sweet Grass serve for pastures to sheep and other cattle the which doe thrive wonderfully well in them and the same befalleth also in the middle sort of Loughs amongst which likewise there be very few that have not some of these little Ilands in them In some few of these Ilands especially of Lough-Earne and Lough-Ree are some dwellings whereunto persons who love solitariness were wont to retire themselves and might live there with much contentment as finding there not only privacy and quietness with opportunity for studies and contemplations but there besides great delightfulness in the place it self with variety of very sweet pastimes in fowling fishing planting and gardening In one of the greatest Ilands of Lough-Earne Sir Henry Spotteswood had a fine seat with goodly Buildings Gardens Orchards and a pretty little Village with a Church and Steeple belonging to it which whither it is in being yet or destroyed by the Barbarians and bloody Rebels I am not informed In Lough Sillon in the County of Cavan in a Iland not far from the bank where the River Nanne● runneth into it is a Castle built of form four square which covereth the whole I le much after the manner of the Fort Eneskellin in Lough-Earne and so many more to long to be rehearsed Sect. 6. Of St Patriks Purgatory One of these little Ilands situated in Lough-Dirg one of the middle-sort of Loughs hath been very famous for the space of some ages over almost all Christendome because the world was made to beleeve that there was the suburbs of Purgatorie into which whoso had the courage to goe and remaine there the appointed time did see and suffer very strange and terrible things which perswasion having lasted untill our times the matter hath been discovered with in these few yeares and found to be a meer illusion This discoverie was made during the goverment of Richard Boile Earle of Cork and Adam Lostus Vicount of Elie and Lord Chancellour of Ireland which two being Lords Iustices of that Kingdome in the last yeares of King Iames desirous to know the truth of the business sent some persons of qualitie to the place to inquire exactly into the truth of the whole matter These did find that that miraculous and fearfull cave descending down to the very Purgatorie and Hell was nothing els but a little cell digged or hewen out of the Rockie ground without any windowes or holes so as the doore beeing shut one could not see a jot within it beeing of so little depth that a tall man could but just stand upright in it and of no greater capacity than to contain six or seven persons Now when that any person desirous to goe that Pilgrimage to Purgatory was come into the Iland the Friars some small number whereof made their constant aboad there for that purpose made him watch and fast excessively whereby and through the recounting of strange and horrible apparitions and ●antasmes which he would meet withall in that subterranean pilgrimage being well preepared they did shut him up in that little dark hole and beeing drawn out again from thence after some houres altogether astonished and in a maze he would be a good while before he came again to himself and afterwards the poor man would tell wonderfull stories as if in very deed he had gone a great way under the ground and seen and suffered all those things which his weak imagination altogether corrupted by the concurrence and sequel of so many causes to weaken the braine did figure unto him To prevent this delusion in future times the said Lords Iustices caused the Friars to depart from thence their dwelling quite to be demolished and the hole or cell to be broke open and altogether exposed to the open aire in which state it hath lyen ever since whereby that Pilgrimage to Purgatory is quite come to nothing and never hath bin undertaken since by any To beget the greater reputation to this sictitious Purgatory the people

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

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 sor●s according to the difference of the Bog● 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 ●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 s●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 spade●-full cast it on a heap either by the ●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

of God from the least to the greatest and although the Father hath reserved in his own hand the times and seasons wherin these promises are to be fulfilled yet as by the dawning of the day we can know that the Sun is neer rising so by the breaking of yoakes the breaking forth of the meanes of more perfect knowledge both in Natural and Spiritual things wee may see the drawing neer of the promises which will in their own times Constitute the day of Salvation unto all the Earth wherein all flesh shall see the glory of the Lord together The expectation of this day is the hope of Israel and those that wait for the Lord and his appearance therein shall find a plentious redemption namely such as having this hope purifie themselves that they may be found in peace at his appearing and such as being solicitous to bestow their Talents in their way and generation to the advancement of his approaching Kingdom shall approve themselves as faithfull servants to him in that day Of this Number I am perswaded your Honours are in these Nations as Leading Men therefore I have made bold thus to address my self unto you and to inscribe this Work unto your Names that it may see the light under your joint patronage God hath made You very eminent Instruments to set forward one part of the preparatives of his great Work the Breaking of our yokes the other part which is the Advancement of Spirituall and Natural sanctified Knowledge your Zeal I am sure will carry you to countenance by the wayes which Providence shall open unto You. Therefore I hope it wil not be without acceptance what in this kind though but a mean beginning I have here offered Your influence upon it to set forward Learned Endeavours of this Nature for a Publick Good may be a blessing unto Posteritie and your Relations of Eminent note unto Ireland to watch for the good therof and to the Universities of Oxford and Dublin to countenance all the Meanes of profitable Learning have encouraged me to make this Dedication besides the expressions of your Honours willingness to favour me in my undertakings which I knew no way so well to resent as by offering to your Generous Inclinations the Objects which are worthy of being considered and set forward in order to a common good I lookt also somewhat upon the hopefull appearance of Replanting Ireland shortly not only by the Adventurers but happily by the calling in of exiled Bohemians and other Protestants also and happily by the invitation of some well affected out of the Low Countries which to advance are thoughts suitable to your noble genius and to further the setlement thereof the Naturall History of that Countrie will not bee unfit but very subservient Thus beseeching the Lord to prosper all your undertakings to the glory of the Kingdom of Christ I take my leave and rest unfeignedly Your Honours most humble servant SAMUEL HARTLIB To the Reader Gentle Reader SOme particulars there are concerning this following Work of which I think it sit you should be advertised and for as much as I can tell you no more of them than what was written to me by the Authors most Loving and Learned Brother give me leave in stead of mine own Words to present you with his said Letter on that subject being such as doth follow Sir I Am very glad to understand by you that my Brothers work of the Naturall History of Ireland is not only not lost as I greatly feared i● was and that you have found it in perusing those books and papers of his which he had left behind him at London but that you are a going to print it and have already contracted about it by the doing whereof I am fully perswaded that you will gain both credit and contentment and that those shall no wayes be losers who will bee at the charges of doing the same For though I say it the work is excellent in it's kind as not only full of truth and certainty but written with much judgment order exactness so as it is to be preferred before most Naturall Histories of particular Countries and may well be equalled to the very best for as much as there is done of it For to make it a compleat Naturall History there should be joyned to that which my Brother hath gone through two Books more the one of all kind of Plants and the other of all sorts of living Creatures which also might have been expected of him if God had given him longer life For he intended assoon as he had published this part to have fallen also to the rest if he had found that he had not lost his labour on what was done already that it had met with a gratefull acceptance abroad such as might have incouraged him to take further paines ●bout the perfecting of it in which case he was resolved to have also joined a Fourth book to those other Three concerning the Natives of Ireland and their old Fashions Lawes and Customes as likewise the great paines taken by the English ever since the Conquest for to civilize them and to improve the Countrie You say you wonder others may justly concurre with you in that your wonderment how a Countrie could bee so accurately described by one who never was in it For although my Brother hath been in Ireland and that he hath ended his dayes there yet he had both begun and finished this First Book of his Naturall History of Ireland some yeares before he went thither or had any thoughts of doing so seeing that he begun to write that work in the beginning of the year of our Lord 1645. and made an end of it long before the end of the same year wheras he went not to Ireland untill the latter end of the year 1649. dyed at Dublin within a very short while after he was arrived there viz. on the 19th of Ianuary 16 ●0 49. Now to answer that difficulty moved by you be pleased to know that I being come from Dublin to London in the beginning of May 1644. and having stayed there untill the latter end of October great part of that conversation which he and I had together during those six months was spent in reasoning about Ireland and about all manner of particulars concerning the Morall and Civill but chiesly the Naturall History of the same my Brother beeing very carefull to inform himself of me about all things appertaining thereunto For besides that his curiositie which was very great for to enrich his mind with all manner of laudable knowledge was of it self alone capable enough for to make him inquisitive in that kind he was there-besides led thereto by his own interest having ventured great part of his estate upon the escheated lands there according to the severall Acts made by the King and Parliament in that behalf And having set down in writing what he had so heard of me he conferred afterwards about the same

North to the South then from the South to the West it runneth altogether sloping from the North-east to the South-west and there besides it stretcheth it self much further into the Sea with its Western shores than any other part of Ireland on the same West-side As for the bigness thereof questionless it is to be reckoned among the chief Ilands of the whole World and of Europe the principalest of all except only Great-Britain the which is more than twice as big for being as long again as it is broad it is at the narrowest which is just in the middle where Dublin is situated no less than an hundred miles broad seeing that Atlone which lyeth just half way betwixt the two Seas is fifty miles distant from Dublin and in Vlster where Ireland is at its broadest it is in most places ten or twelve and in some twenty miles broader In the length if from the middle of the Northern coast one doe go directly Southward one shall find it to be about two hundred miles But if you shape your course more to the East the length will be found less by some miles because the cost of Munster runneth so sloping as we have said before and to the contrary if one measure the length of Ireland more to the West it will be found to bee a great deal more than two hundred miles And if the measure were taken not through the inland-parts as now we have framed it but all along the sea-shore the length would amount to a great deal more than what now we have declared as well on the East as on the West side in regard of the inequality of the coast and of the great Bayes and Fore-lands which make it in most places very much run out to the seaward or into the landward for which same reason the circuit of the whole Iland taken alongst the shoare is by far greater than otherwise the proportion of its length and breadth would seem to require The Miles here mentioned must bee understood not of the cōmon English ones three wherof make one League or Holland mile but of the Irish the which are about one fifth part bigger so as five Irish miles doe amount to about six English Sect. 4. Division of Ireland into Provinces and Counties This Iland is divided into four principall parts called Provinces viz. Vlster Leinster Connaught and Munster of which the first and the last extend themselves from the one sea to the other Vlster in the North and Munster in the South Leinster Connaught lying betwixt those two forenamed Provinces have the sea only on one side Connaught on the West and Leinster on the East To these four most Writers and Records add a fifth called Meath but that is really a part of Leinster and ordinarily now is held to be such Each of these Provinces is again divided into divers Counties Vlster hath eleven whereof six on the sea-side viz. Fermanagh Doneghall alias Tirconnel Colraine Antrim Down Lowth and five within the land viz. Cavan Monaghan Armahg Nether-Tirone Upper-Tirone Leinster comprehendeth likewise eleven Counties Dublin Wickloe and Wexford on the sea-side East-Meath and Catherlogh or Carlo within the land but with a little nook reaching unto the sea West-Meath Kildare Kilkenny Kings-county Queenes-county and Longford altogether within the land Munster is divided into six Counties two within the Land viz. Tipperary and Limmerick and the other four Waterford Cork Desmond and Kerry situated on the sea-side but stretching themselves a great way into the land In Connaught there be six Counties viz. Clare alias Tomond Galloway Majo and Sleigo situated on the Sea and Roscomen and Letcim within the land Sect. 5. Of the English Pale There is yet another division of Ireland whereby the whole land is divided into two parts The English Pale and the Land of the meer Irish. The English Pale comprehendeth onlie four Counties one whereof is in Vlster viz. Louth and the other three in Leinster to wit Meath Dublin and Kildare the originall of which division is this The English at the first conquest under the reign of Henry the second having within a litle time conquered great part of Ireland did afterwards in the space of not very many yeares make themselves masters of almost all the rest having expelled the natives called the Wild Irish because that in all manner of wildness they may bee compared with the most barbarous nations of the earth into the desart woods and mountains But afterwards being falln at ods among themselves and making severall great warres the one upon the other the Irish thereby got the opportunitie to recover now this and then that part of the land whereby and through the degenerating of a great many from time to time who joining themselves with the Irish took upon them their wild fashions and their language the English in length of time came to bee so much weakened that at last nothing remained to them of the whole Kingdome worth the speaking of but the great Cities and the forenamed four Counties to whom the name of Pale was given because that the authority and government of the Kings of England and the English Colonies or Plantations which before had been spread over the whole Land now were reduced to so small a compass and as it were impaled within the same And although since the beginning of this present age and since King Iames his comming to the Crown of England the whole Iland was reduced under the obedience and government of the English Lawes and replenished with English and Scotch Colonies nevertheless the name of English Pale which in the old signification was now out of season remained in use and is so still even since this last bloody rebellion wherein the inhabitants of almost all the Pale although all of them of English descent have conspired with the Native Irish for to shake off the Government of the Crown of England and utterly to extinguish the Reformed Religion with all the professors thereof and quite to root them out of Ireland Sect. 6. Cities and chief Townes of Ireland This Iland hath in it severall Cities among which Dublin is the principall beeing the chief City of the whole Commonwealth the Residence of the Governour the Counsell of State all the Great Officers the Exchequer Iudges and Courts of Iustice beeing also adorned with an Vniversitie the onely in all Ireland It is situated in the Province of Leinster about the middle of the length of Ireland as already hath been mentioned not far from the Sea an Inlet whereof maketh a harbour for this City which harbour although none of the best of Ireland whereof in the next chapter but one shall bee spoken more at large is neverthelesse frequented with more ships and hath greater importation of all things than any other Haven in the Kingdome by reason that all sorts of commodities are much more readily in greater plenty vented here than any where else what in the City

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

short time the use thereof grew very common amongst them so as many of ●hem ever after used no other kind of dung The manner of it was thus Having first plowed their fields they carryed the Lime on them and layd it in many small heaps leaving a convenient distance between in the same manner as useth to be done with the dung of beasts and having let them lye for some moneths they plowed the land again to convey the Lime into the ground This made it so rich that in a great while after nothing else needed to be done to it but to let the land at a certain revolution of time lye Fallow no other manuring at all being requisite for some yeares after And all that while the land was very fruitfull more than it could have been made with any ordinary dung and very free of al sorts of bad herbs and weeds especially for the first yeares bringing Corn with much thinner huskes than that growing upon other lands They found that the Lime carryed upon the Land hot out of the Kiln did more good in all the fore-mentioned particulars than when they let it grow cold first And this they could doe very easily because Lime-stone is very plentifull in that County especially in the Town of Monrath where there is a whole hill of that stone of that bigness that if all the adjacent Country did continually fetch it from thence for the forenamed use it would for ever hold out sufficiently The Land thus manured and improved by Lime shewed its fruitfulness not only in the following yeares but even in the first except the Lime had been layd on in undue proportion and in greater quantity than was requisite for in that case the Lime burnt the Corn and the first years Crop was thereby spoyled In some places where the land was not cold and moyst enough to bee able to endure meer Lime they mixed the Lime with earth digged out of pits and let that stuff lye a mellowing in great heaps for some moneths together and afterwards carryed it on the land and manured that therewith Sect. 7. A remarkable historie concerning the excellencie of Lime for the inricheng of the ground How incredibly the land was inriched by this kind of manuring may be gathered by the ensuing particular The whole Lordship of Mounrath was thirty yeares agoe set by one Mr. Downings whose it was and who afterwards sold it to Sir Charles Coot for fifty pounds sterling by the year and nevertheless after a while the Farmers surrendred it unto him complaining that they could not live by it but were quite impoverished where as they who farmed it next after them beeing people newly come out of England gave an hundred and fifty pounds sterling a year st●rling for it did not only live very freely upon it yea grew rich and wealthie but withall did so farre forth improve the land partly indeed with building plauting hedging and the like but chiefly by this kind of manuing that ●t the time when this last horrible rebellion broke forth the same Lordship if it had been to let out then mighe have been let for five hundred pounds sterling a year as it hath been assured me by some who themselves had been farmers of that land Sect. 8. Another history shewing the ●fficacy of Lime in this particular Before we give over this discours of Lime we shall adde to what hath been said already that in some other parts of Ireland where this manuring with Lime was not used nor known the vertue of Lime in this particular hath been found out by meer chance For some persons known to me who lived but a few miles from Dublin having understood that the crowes wherewith they were much plagued and who did use to make very great spoil of their grains would not touch the corn wherewith the lime was mixed did cause unsl●ked Lime to be mingled with water making it as thinne as if it had been for the whitening of walls and very well bespringled the corn therewith before it was carried to the fields to be sowen and that after this manner the corn lying on a heap one turned it with both hands whilest another sprinkled on the fore-said stuff doing so untill the whole heap was thoroughly besprinkled at other times they mingled dry lime with the corn and afterwards besprinkled the whole heap with fair water through and through for the same purpose and hereby they did not only obtain the aforesaid end of preserving the corn from the crowes but had thereby a fairer and better crop than ever before their land had produced Sect. 9. Of Sea-sand Lime is much used in the province of Munster as in other parts of Ireland so for to manure the ground withall where the sea-sand likewise is greatly used to the same end not only in places lying on the seaside but even ten twelve and fifteen miles into the land whether it was carried in some places by boats and in others upon carts the charges being sufficiently recompensed by the pro●it comming from it For they used it for the most part only upō very poor land consisting of cold clay and that above half a foot deep which land having been three or f●ur times plowed harrowed in the same manner as is usuall to be done with fallow the sand is strawed all over very thinly a little before the sowing time the which beeing done that land bringeth very good corn of all sorts not only Rye and Oates but even Barley and Wheat three yeares one after another and having lyen fallow the fourth year for many years after it produceth very clean and sweet grass whereas formerly and before it was thus manured it produced nothing but moss heath and short low furze which herbs are fired upon the ground and the ground stubbed before it be plowed the first time It is not any peculiar sort of Sea-sand nor out of any particular places which is used for this purpose but that which every where lyeth on the strands And this manner of manu●ing the land with Sea-sand is very common in the two most Westerly shires of England Cornwall and Devonshire from whence those who first practised it in Ireland seem to have learned it Sect. 10. Of Brine or Pickle The goodness of the Sea-sand consisteth chiefly in its Saltness for which reason Pickle it self is very good for this purpose it beeing very well known to severall English dwelling about the Band and Colrain that were Farmers of the Salmon-fishing there who used every year carefully to keep the soul pikle comming of the Salmons at their repacking and having powred it among the ordinary dung of cattle and straw they did let them ly a good while a mellow●ng together Hereby it was greatly strengthened and enriched so that the land being dunged with it did bear much better and richer crops than that which was manured onely with common dung without the mixture of it CHAP. XII Sect. 1. Of

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 ●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

their own accord so as one may see the veins thereof at the very outside in the sides of the mohntains beeing not very broad but of great length and commonly divers in one place five or six ridges the one above the other with ridges of earth between them These Veins or Ridges are vulgarly called Pins from whence the Mine hath the name of Pin-mine being also called White-mine because of its whitish colour and Shel-mine for the following reason for this stuff or Oar being neither loose or soft as earth or clay neither firm and hard as stone is of a middle substance between both somewhat like unto Slate composed of shels or scales the which do lye one upon another and may be separated and taken asunder very easily without any great force or trouble This stuff is digged out of the ground in lumps of the bigness of a mans head bigger or less according as the Vein assordeth opportunitie Within every one of these lumps when the Mine is very rich and of the best sort for all the Oar of this kind is not of equall goodness some yeelding more and better Iron than other lyeth a small Kernell which hath the name of Hony-comb given to it because it is full of little holes in the same manner as that substance whereof it borroweth its appellation The Iron comming of this Oar is not brittle as that of the Rock-mine but tough and in many places as good as any Spanish Iron Sect. 6. Iron-works erected by the English The English having discovered these Mines endeavoured to improve the same to make profit of them and consequently severall Iron-works were erected by them in sundry pats of the Land ●s namely by the Earl of Cork in divers places in Munster by Sr Coarles Coot in the Counties of Roscomen and Letrim in Connaught and in Leinster by Mountrath in Queens-county by the Earl of London-derry at Ballonakill in the sayd County by the Lord Chancelour Sir Adam Loftus Vicount of Ely at Mount-melik in Kings-county by Sir Iohn Dunbar in Fermanagh in Ulster and another in the same County by the side of Lough-Earne by Sir Leonard Bleverhasset in the County of Tomond in Connaught by some London-Merchants besides some other Works in other places whose first Erectors have not come to my knowledge In imitation of these have also been erected divers Iron-works in sundry parts of the sea-coast of Ulster and Munster by persons who having no Mines upon or near their own Lands had the Oare brought unto them by sea out of England the which they found better cheap than if they had caused it to be fetched by land from some of the Mines within the land And all this by English whose industry herein the Irish have been so far from imitating as since the beginning of this Rebellion they have broke down and quite demolished almost all the fore-mentioned Iron-works as well those of the one as of the other sort CHAP. XVII Of the Iron-works their fashion charges of erecting and maintaining th●m and profit comming of them With an exact description of the manner of melting the Iron in them Sect. 1. The fashion of the Iron-works THe fashion of the Iron-works of whose erection we have spoke in the end of the foregoing Chapter is such as followeth At the end of a great Barn standeth a huge Furnace being of the height of a pike and a half or more and four-square in figure but after the manner of a Mault-kiln that is narrow below and by degrees growing wider towards the top so as the compass of the mouth or the top is of many fathoms This mouth is not covered but open all over so that the flame when the furnace is kindled rising through the same without any hindrance may be seen a great way off in the night and in the midst of the darkness maketh a terrible shew to travellers who do not know what it is These Ovens are not kindled with wood nor with sea-coal but meerly vvith char-coal whereof therefore they consume a huge quantity For the Furnace being once kindled is never suffered to go out but is continually kept a burning from the one end of the year to the other And the proportion of the coals to the Oare is very great For the Mine would not melt without an exceeding hot fire the which that it may be the more quick and violent it is continually blown day and night without ceasing by two vast pair of bellow● the which resting upon main peeces of timber and with their pipes placed into one of the sides of the Furnace are perpetually kept in action by the meanes of a great wheel which being driven about by a little brook or water-course maketh them rise and fall by turns so that whilst the one pair of bellows doth swell and fill it self with wind the other doth blow the same forth into the Furnace Sect. 2. Of the lesser Iron-works called Bloomeries Of the Hammer-works And of the Casting works There is another and lesser sort of Iron-works much different from the former For instead of a Furnace they use a Hearth therein altogether of the fashion of a Smiths Hearth whereon the Oare being layd in a great heap it is covered over with abundance of Charcoal the which being kindled is continually blown by Bellows that are moved by Wheeles and Water-courses in the same manner as in the other Works These Works commonly called Bloomeries are in use or were so before this Rebellion in sundry places of the North-parts of Ulster Besides these two sorts of Works where the Iron-mine is melted there is a third sort where the Iron after the first melting is hammered out into Bars of which we shall have occasion to speak more in the latter end of this present Chapter There were also in some parts of Ireland yet another kind of Iron-works differing from all the former where the Iron was cast into Ordnance Pots small round Furnaces and other things of which Works Mr Christopher Wandsworth Master of the Rolls of Ireland and in his latter dayes Lord Deputy of the same Kingdom under the Earl of Strafford then Lord Lieutenant thereof had one upon his lands by Idough in the County of Carloe whereof we cannot give the Reader any particulars because we have not yet been informed thereof Sect. 3. Conveniencies requisite to the erecting of an Iron-work In the erecting of these Works men seek to make them as near to the Mine as may be to get the more profit by them for the greater the distance is the greater are the charges in having the Oare brought from the Mine to the Furnace especially where all must be carried by land the which doth fall out so in far the most places But many times one is necessitated to make the Works a good way further from the Mine than otherwise one would because of the Water-courses the which being of very great consequence in the well-settling of a Work and absolutely

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 bo●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-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 Mos● 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 gra●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 ●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