n, where a very made, and has here are superior which resemble avourite species is made from a uice of various atshalstoe (dis -kask, there are Second,' northntain from 200 d about fifteen iptions of wine about 225,800 30,000 (about ble quantities f these wines 00l. sterling. 250 gallons) lustry both E the more numerous , or cattlenative Cosn neck and Eng animal k is rarely any of the ntain 1000 horses, are ar, and in neath the ers. The medaries, antrymen 5. Next animal; pally by The for the sale of what the country produces, or find a vent at The territory of the Cossacks is divided into seven Not- The great mass of the population are Cossacks and Little Russians, among whom a number of Great Russians, NogayTartars, Gypsies, Armenians, and Greeks are intermixed. The Calmuek part of the population are a nomadic people: in 1832 their numbers were 16,413, of whom 7889 were males and 8524 females. The following is given as the official return of the remaining inhabitants of the territory :Bondsmen in the service of Cossack proprietors. 389,371 Free labourers, &c. 123,299 . 512,670 The territory of the Don Cossacks, which is more exten- arrow, although they do not use them in war. Their principal weapon in battle is the lance. They live under a military government wholly distinct from the government of every other Russian province, at the head of which is a Voiskovoi-Attaman, or Captain-general; but as the present emperor has vested this office in the heir-apparent, his powers are delegated to a Nakazmi or Vice-Attaman; and on this model every stanitze has its local attaman, who is elected by the inhabitants. The Cossacks have a supreme council of state, called the Chancery of the Voiskofnya, or Captaincy, which controls both the civil as well as the military affairs of the territory. The attaman or his deputy is its president, and he is assisted by two perpetual members and four other members, who are elected by the people every three years. The expenses of the administration, including the allowances to the vice-attaman, the attorney-general, and the officers attached to the attaman, amounted in 1832 to upwards of 150,000 silver rubles (about 26,000%.) The Cossacks are divided into Polks, or regiments, and Sotnyes, or companies; which last are again divided into sections: each polk has a standard-bearer and a major. In return for the exemption from taxes, crown monopolies, and other privileges, they are bound to keep in a constant state of readiness for the Imperial service about 25,000 cavalry, who are reckoned among the regular Cossacks. From the age of 15 to 50 every Cossack is a soldier, and in case of pressing emergency, all males capable of service are bound to take up arms. The Calmucks are governed by the same laws, and subject to the authority of the Voiskovoi-Attaman. They are equally bound to serve with their Cossack fellowcountrymen, by whom, however, they are held in great contempt. They dwell in tents of skin, lead a wandering life, and are exclusively occupied in rearing cattle, sheep, camels, and especially horses, with which they supply the Russian light cavalry. The Cossacks pay much attention to their dress; which consists of a blue jacket, frequently laced with gold and lined with silk, a silk vest and girdle, full white trowsers, and black woollen cap, with a large red bag dangling behind. The females, who are inferior in symmetry of form to the males, have agreeable features, a florid complexion, and fine black eyes. They wear a long falling tunic of cotton or silk, partly open in front, and confined by an ornamental waistband. Beneath this upper garment appear broad trowsers, with which yellow boots are usually worn. The hair of the unmarried female floats in long braided tresses over the shoulder, but when married she conceals it under a cap richly embroidered with gold and pearls. Their dances resemble those of the Russian gipsies, and are performed by two persons only, who accompany their movements with loud cries. DONAGHADEE, a mail-packet station, in the barony of Ards and county of Down, in Ireland: distant 94 Irish or 119 English miles from Dublin, seventeen English miles from Belfast; and twenty-one English miles from Portpatrick, on the opposite coast of Great Britain. Donaghadec owes its rise to being the most convenient point of communication between the latest colonists of Ards, and their countrymen in Scotland, with whom they carried on a sufficient traffic to induce the proprietor, the Lord Montgomery, about A. D. 1650, to erect a quay 128 yards in length, and from 21 to 22 feet broad, which continued during the last century to afford pretty good shelter to all the craft employed. The Scottish mails have landed here since before 1744, at which time Donaghadee enjoyed a large share of the imports and exports of this part of the country. The accommodation of the old quay being latterly found insufficient for the better class of steam-packets, as In respect of church matters, this territory was formerly well as for merchantmen, which frequently experienced the dependent upon the diocese of Voronesh, but the eparchate want of an asylum harbour on this coast, a new pier was of New Tsherkask was established expressly for it by the commenced at the expense of government, which is now ukase of May, 1829: it contained in 1830 369 churches, of completed, enclosing a basin of seven acres, and calwhich 5 are cathedrals, beside three monasteries and one culated to hold sixty vessels of the larger class. The exconvent. The majority of the people are of the Russo-pense has been upwards of 150,000l., and the work is Greek church. The Calmucks are Lamaists, and the executed in the best manner; but the benefits so far derived Nogay and other Tartars are Mohammedans. from it are not considered commensurate with so great a cost. The town, which consists of two principal streets, is well built and airy: it has at present a considerable export trade in cattle and grain, and a large import of coal. There are a handsome church, two Presbyterian meeting-houses, twe Seceders, meeting-houses, and one Wesleyan Metho The Cossacks are exempt from taxes, but are liable to do military duty, and are bound to dress, arm, and equip them selves entirely at their own expense, in return for which the government provides for their maintenance while in the field, allows them pay, and supplies them with field equipage. Few Cossacks are unskilled in the use of the bow and dist meeting-house. On the north-east side of the town stands a remarkable | court, and neither probate or administration is necessary, artificial mount or rath, surrounded by a dry fosse from 27 nor the assent of the executors, as in the case of a legacy. to 32 feet broad. The circumference of the mount at the On the Roman donatio mortis causâ the reader may bottom is 480 feet, at the top 219 feet, and its greatest consult Heineccius, Op., tom. vi., p. 581, and the references conical height 140 feet. A powder magazine has been built there given; and the Pandect, xxxix., tit. 6. The Constion the summit, from which Scotland and the Isle of Man tution of Justinian put donations mortis causâ very nearly are visible in fair weather. on the footing of legacies in the Roman law. In 1834 there were in the parish 15 schools, educating 703 young persons: of these schools three were in connexion with the Board of National Education. Population of town in 1821, 2,795: in 1831, 2,986. (Harris's History of the County of Down; Northern Tourist; Reports, &c.) DONATELLO. Donato di Belto di Bardo, called Donatello, was born at Florence in the year 1383. He was brought up in the house of a Florentine gentleman named Ruberto Martelli, a liberal patron of the arts, and received his first instructions from Lorenzo Bicci, from whom he learned painting in fresco; but he afterwards became more famous as a sculptor. He also practised architecture. In the course of his life he visited many towns of Italy, among which were Venice and Padua, where the people wanted to detain and naturalize him, and Rome. Donatello was much esteemed by his contemporaries, and executed a great number of works, both in private and public buildings, and for the grand-duke Cosmo I. He was the first to employ basrelief in telling stories, according to the more elaborate style of Italian sculpture. He died paralytic, December 13, 1466. When he first became so infirm as to be unable to work, the grand-duke Piero I. gave him a small estate: but he was so much annoyed by the troublesome references of his labourers, that he insisted on relinquishing it; and Piero gave him a pension instead, in daily payments, which perfectly contented him. Some relations visited him one day, for the purpose of persuading him to leave them at his death a vineyard which he owned; but he answered, that it seemed more reasonable to leave it to the peasant who had always worked upon it than to those who had done no labours for him, except paying him that visit: and he did so. As to the English law, see Roper on Legacies, vol. i. DONATISTS, Christian schismatics of Africa, of the fourth century, originally partisans of Donatus, bishop of Casa Nigra in Numidia, the great opponent to the election of Cecilianus into the bishopric of Carthage. Donatus accused Cecilianus of having delivered up the sacred books to the Pagans, and pretended that his election was thereby void, and all those who adhered to him heretics. Under this false pretext of zeal he set up for the head of a party, and, about the year 312, taught that baptism administered by heretics was ineffectual; that the church was not infallible; that it had erred in his time; and that he was to be the restorer of it. But a council held at Arles, in 314, acquitted Cecilianus, and declared his election valid. The schismatics, irritated at the decision, refused to acquiesce in the sentence of the council; and the better to support their cause, they thought it proper to subscribe to the opinions of Donatus, and openly to declaim against the Catholics. They gave out that the church was become prostituted; they re-baptized the Catholics; trod under foot the hosts consecrated by priests attached to the Holy See; burned their churches; and committed various other acts of violence. They had chosen into the place of Cecilianus one Majorinus, but he dying soon after, they brought in another Donatus, different from him of Casa Nigra, as bishop of Carthage. It was from this new head of the cabal, who used so much violence against the Catholics, that the Donatists are believed to have received their name. As they could not prove, however, that they composed a true church, they bethought themselves of sending one of their bishops to Rome. They attempted likewise to send some bishops into Spain, that they might say their church began to spread itself everywhere. His principal works are at Fiorence; but some have decayed, or been removed from their original station. One, After many ineffectual efforts to crush this schism, the a figure of St. Mark, which was nicknamed (according to emperor Honorius ordered a council of bishops to assemble the common propensity of the Florentines) Lo Zuccone at Carthage in the year 410, where a disputation was held (the Gourd) on account of its bald head, is much com- between seven of each party, when it was decided that the mended. A St. George is also much esteemed; and Va- laws enacted against heretics had force against the Donasari, speaking of a Judith bearing the head of Holofernes, tists. The glory of their defeat was due to St. Augustine, in bronze, calls it, with all the strength he gathered bishop of Hippo, who bore the principal part in this controfrom his intense love of his art, A work of great ex-versy. The Donatists, however, continued as a separate cellence and mastery, which, to him who considers the body, and attempted to multiply their sect even in the sixth simplicity of the outside, in the drapery and in the aspect century; but the Catholic bishops used so much wisdom of Judith, sees manifested from within it the great heart and prudence that they insensibly brought over most of (animo) of that woman and the aid of God; as in the air those who had strayed from the bosom of the church. The of that Holofernes, wine and sleep, and death in his mem- church of the Donatists gradually dwindled to nothing, and bers, which, having lost their spirit, show themselves cold became quite extinct in the seventh century. (Broughton's and falling.' Dict. of all Religions, fol. Lond., 1756, pp. 340, 341; Mosheim's Eccl. History, 4to. Lond., 1765, vol. i., pp. 211, 214, 259, 305; Moreri, Dict. Historique, fol., Paris, 1759, tom. iv. p. 214.) Donatello left several pupils, to whom he bequeathed his tools. The most noted are Bertoldo, Nanni d'Anton di Bianco, Rossellino, Disederio, and Vellano di Padova. To the last he left all the works which he retained at his death. (Vasari; Baldinucci.) DONATIO MORTIS CAUSA (Law), a gift made in prospect of death. The doctrine is derived from the civil law, and a donation of this kind is defined in the Institutes (lib. ii., tit. 7) as a gift which is made under an apprehension of death, as when a thing is given upon condition that, if the donor die, the donee shall have it, or that the thing given shall be returned if the donor shall survive the danger which he apprehends, or shall repent that he has made the gift; or if the donee shall die before the donor. In the English law it is necessary to the validity of this gift that it be made by the donor with relation to his dying by the illness which affects him at the time of the gift, but it takes effect only in case he die of that illness. There must be a delivery of the thing itself to the donee; but in cases where actual transfer is impossible, as, for instance, goods of bulk deposited in a warehouse, the delivery of the key of the warehouse is effectual. A donatio mortis causâ partakes of the nature of a legacy so far as to be liable to the debts of the donor, and, by 36 Geo. III., c. 52, § 7, to the legacy duty; but as it takes effect from the delivery, and not by a testamentary act, it is not within the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical DONATIVE. [BENEFICE, vol. iv., p. 220.] DONATUS, ÆLIUS, a celebrated grammarian, who lived in the middle of the fourth century. He wrote a Grammar, which long continued in the schools; and also Notes upon Terence and Virgil. He was most eminent in the time of Constantius, and taught rhetoric and polite literature at Rome in the year 356, about which time St. Jerom studied grammar under him. Donatus has given ample employment to the bibliographers, who all speak of an Editio Tabellaris sine ulla nota' of his Grammar, as one of the first efforts at printing by means of letters cut on wooden blocks. (See Meerman, Origines Typograph. of this and other editions, 4to., Hag. Com. 1765, tom. i. pp. 126, 132; ii. pp. 107, 215, 218.) This Grammar has been printed with several titles, as Donatus,' Donatus Minor,' 'Donatus Ethimolyzatus,' Donatus pro puerulis, &c., but the work is the same, namely, 'Elements of the Latin Language for the use of Children.' In the volume of the Grammatici Veteres, printed by Nic. Jenson, without date, it is entitled 'Donatus de Barbarismo et de octo partibus Orationis. Dr. Clarke, in his Bibliographical Dictionary,' vol. iii. p. 144-148, has given a long list of editions of Donatus, to which the more inquisitive reader is referred. Donatus's Commentarii in quinque Comoedias Terentii,' were first printed without date, ion is necessary, case of a legacy. the reader mas nd the referentes .6. The Const ausâ very nearly IW. gacies, vol. i of Africa, of the natus, bishop of at to the election age. Donata he sacred bok on was thereby retics. Unde head of a a party, n administere h was not in hat he was t Arles, in 314 valid. Th > acquiesce support the e opinions of e Catholis prestituted ot the hist See: burt Is of violence one Ma another shop of Car ho used s opatists are probably before 1460, and reprinted in 1471 and 1476. The Donat, in the middle ages, both in English and French, Then drave I me among drapers my Donet to lerne.' deserving of the attention of the antiquary. Christ Church was erected a few years ago, from a fund left for that purpose by the late John Jarratt, Esq. The spire was 160 feet high; in November, 1836, it was struck by lightning, the tower was much injured, and that part of the edifice is at present (May, 1837) a mass of ruins. The interior is uninjured, and the service has not been interrupted by the accident. The living of the parish church is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of York, and in the patronage of the archbishop of York. Christ Church is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the trustees of the late Mr. Jarratt. The dissenting places of worship are for Friends, Methodists, Independents, Catholics, and Presbyterians. There The educational establishments are numerous. are many boarding-schools for both sexes, a grammarschool, a national-school, a British-school, and six Sundayschools. All these schools are well supported. The number of pupils instructed in Sunday-schools exceeds 1000; they are taught by 150 teachers and superintendents. The Yorkshire institution for the Deaf and Dumb is situated near the race-course: it is a school of instruction and industry. (DEAF and DUMB.) Other institutions are the Subscription Library, the Mechanics' and Apprentices' Library, and the Lyceum Literary and Scientific Society. A valuable library also belongs to the church, which is accessible to all the inhabitants. The public charities which belong to the town are numerous. St. Thomas's Hospital, 66 DONAX. [CONCHACEA, vol. viii., p. 428.] DONCASTER, a market-town, borough, and parish in the West Riding of the county of York, in the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill. It is situated on the river Don, on the great north road, which passes through the whole length of the town; it is 162 miles north-north-west of London, and 37 miles south-by-west of York. Doncaster was the Danum of Antoninus, and was called Dona Ceustre by the Saxons, from which its present name is derived. Doncaster is one of the cleanest, most airy, and most beautiful towns in the kingdom. The approach from London, by a wide and nearly level road, ornamented with antient elm-trees, is magnificent. The town stands on the Wat-endowed in 1588 by Thomas Ellis, is an asylum for six ling-street of the Romans. Coins, urns, and other Roman 'poore and decayed housekeepers of good name and fame." remains are occasionally dug up in various parts of the Its present income is 3357. 38. 6d. a year. Quintin Kay's town and neighbourhood. charity of 300l. per annum, is chiefly devoted to the relief Under the Municipal Reform Act the borough is divided of poor and reduced persons, and to the apprenticing of six into three wards, with six aldermen and eighteen council-poor children to mechanical or handicraft trades. Jarratt's lors; it has also a commission of the peace. The clear charity is for the relief of six reduced housekeepers. There income of the corporation is about 80007. per annum, of are several other bequests for purposes similar to those enuwhich large sums are expended in lighting, paving, clean- merated. The other charities in Doncaster are the dispening, and watching the town, in repair of roads, improve- sary, the lying-in, clothing, sick, and soup charities. The ment of the estates, police expenses, and in contributions total number of accounts kept at the Doncaster savings' bank to various charities. The air is considered remarkably pure to November 1836 was 2050, amounting to 81,7117. 98. 6d. and salubrious, and this circumstance, combined with its advantageous situation and its comparative freedom from local assessments, renders it a desirable residence for persons of limited income. The population of the borough was, in 1801, 5697; in 1811, 6935; in 1821, 8544; in 1831, 10,030. The population of the townships in the soke of Doncaster, including Hexthorpe-with-Balby, Loversal, Rossington, Aukley, Blaxton, and Wheatley-with-Sandall, was, in 1831, 1700. The races at Doncaster are held in the third week of September, and continue for five days. It is said that they are a source of great emolument to the town, but this is very doubtful. It is certain that they are productive of great immorality, not only among the casual visiters, but also among the permanent residents. The race-ground, which is about a mile from the town, is perhaps unrivalled. The St. Leger stakes excite great interest not only throughou the kingdom, but in all parts of the world. The municipal body subscribes largely to the maintenance of the races, under the idea that they tend to the prosperity of the town. Potteric Car, on the south of Doncaster, was a morass of many miles in extent, till the year 1766. It is now completely drained, and yields luxuriant crops. Doncaster has a few iron foundries, a sacking and a linen manufactory on a small scale. In 1787, Dr. Cartwright introduced the manufacture of muslins by power-looms, of which he was the inventor, into the town; but the attempt to make Doncaster a manufacturing town was unsuccessful. As the centre of a large agricultural district, the markets DONEGAL, a maritime county of the province of Ulster and fairs are attended by a large rural population, who in Ireland; bounded east and south on the inland side by contribute greatly to its support. Although it is one of parts of the counties of Londonderry, Tyrone, Fermanagh, the largest corn-inarkets in the kingdom, there is no cornand Leitrim; and on the south-west, west, and north, by the exchange; a spacious area between the shambles and the Atlantic Ocean. Greatest length from Inishowen head on cattle-market is used for the sale of corn. The town also the north-east, to Malin Beg head (sometimes called Teelin derives support from the numerous opulent families re-head,) on the south-west, 85 statute miles; greatest breadth siding in its vicinity, and from the continual intercourse on the north road. Though the navigation of the Don renders it an eligible situation for general traffic between the manufacturing districts and the eastern coast, no advantage has yet been taken of the facilities thus afforded for making it a place of trade. The public buildings in Doncaster are the mansion-house, a handsome structure, which has cost about 10,000., and which is used for the meetings of the corporation, for concerts, assemblies, and occasionally for public meetings; the town-hall, in which the quarterly sessions for the borough and the annual sessions for the wapentake are held; the gaol, which is built on the improved principle for the classification of prisoners, a betting-room, and a theatre. The stand, on the race-ground, may also be considered as one of the public buildings; it was erected at the expense of the corporation, and is both elegant and commodious. The stand tickets sold during the race week produce an income of about 17007. a year. The churches of Doncaster are, the parish church, dedicated to St. George, and Christ Church. The former is a spacious and elegant cruciform structure, with a fine square tower, 141 feet high. The various details of the exterior and interior are particularly fine, and well from Fearn-hill on the south-east to Horn Head on the north-west, 41 statute miles. Area according to Ordnance survey of Ireland, consists of— a. r. p. Land 1,170,335 2 31 11 Total 1,193,442 3 2 Statute measure. Or, about 1865 square miles. Gross population in 1831, 289,149. Donegal forms the north-western extremity of Ireland. The inland boundary preserves a general direction of south-west by north-east, and from Lifford northward is formed by the navigable river and harbour of Loch Foyle. The maritime boundary is extremely irregular, being deeply indented on the north by the estuaries of Loch Swilly; Mulroy, and Sheephaven, and on the south by Donegal bay. The whole county is uneven and mountainous, with the exception of the midland district extending from the liberties of Londonderry westward to Letterkenny and Rathmelton, on Loch Swilly, and southward along the Foyle to Lifford and Castle Finn and some other incon siderable tracts around Ballyshannon and Donegal on the blown in here within the last century. Rosapenna-house, south, and Dunfanaghy and Buncrana on the north. The built by Lord Boyne, on the neck of the isthmus, with all mountain groups of Donegal together with the highlands its demesne, gardens, and offices, has been buried to such a of Tyrone and Derry present a deeply withdrawn amphi- depth, that the chimneys of the mansion-house some years theatre to the north-east, enclosing the basin of the Foyle. since were all that was visible. On the opposite shore of That portion of the mountainous circuit which lies within Sheep Haven stand Doe Castle, and the house and dethis county is broken only in the north by the openings of mesne of Ardes, the most remote, and at the same time the Loch Swilly and Mulroy Bay; and on the south (where the most splendid seat in this quarter of Ulster. On a creek connecting highlands of Donegal and Tyrone are narrowed of Sheep Haven is the little port-town of Dunfanaghy, imbetween the valley of the Finn and the Bay of Donegal) by mediately under Horn Head, which rises north of it to the the gap of Barnesmore. Slieve Snaght, which rises to a height of 833 feet, with a cliff to the ocean of 626 feet. On height of 2019 feet in the centre of the peninsula of Inish- the western side of Horn Head is a perforation of the rock, owen, forms the extremity of this chain on the north. West-known as Mc Swine's Gun: when the wind sets in from ward from Slieve Snaght and similarly situated in the cen- the north-west, the sea is driven into this cavern with such tre of the peninsula of Fanad between Loch Swilly and violence as to rise through an opening of the rock above in Mulroy Bay, is Knockalla (1196 feet); backed in like man- lofty jets, with a report which, it is said, may be heard at a ner by Loch Salt mountain (1541 feet), between the head distance of many miles. In the sound between Horn Head of Mulroy Bay and the low country stretching inland from and Bloody Foreland are the islands of Innisboffin, InnishSheep Haven. Westward again from the Sheep Haven is doony, and Tory Island, which last is at a distance of eight Muckish, 2190 feet in height, which slopes down on the miles from the shore. Tory Island is three miles and a north to the promontory of Horn Head; and Carntreena, half in length, by half a mile to three quarters in breadth, (1396 feet), which extends to the sea at Bloody Foreland. and is inhabited by perhaps the most primitive race of peoSouthward from Muckish stretches a vast region of high- ple in the United Kingdom. In 1821 the island contained lands, which expands towards the west in wide-extended 59 houses and 296 inhabitants, few of whom had ever been tracts of bog, interspersed with small lakes and covered on the main land. It is stated by the only tourist who has with black heaths down to the sandy beach of the Atlantic: given an account of his travels through this remote district, on the east it presents a series of bold continuous emi- that seven or eight of the inhabitants of Tory having been nences overhanging the basin of the Foyle. The chief emi- driven by stress of weather into Ardes Bay about the year nences of the chain are Erigal and Dooish on the north, 1825, Mr. Stewart of Ardes, gave these poor people shelter the first 2462 feet in height (the highest ground in the in a large barn, and supplied them with plenty of food and county), the second 2143 feet; and Bluestack and Silver- fresh straw to lie on ;-not one of these people was ever in hill on the south, 2213 and 1967 feet respectively. From Ireland before; the trees of Ardes actually astonished them Bluestack extends a series of considerable elevations west--they were seen putting leaves and small branches in ward, along the northern boundary of the bay of Donegal, their pockets to show on their return. Mr. Stewart had the which terminate in the precipices of Slieve League, and the good nature to procure a piper for their amusement, and promontory of Malin Beg; the Barnesmore mountains all the time the wind was contrary those harmless people sweeping eastward continue the chain into Tyrone. This continued dancing, singing, eating, and sleeping-a picture mountainous tract covers upwards of 700 square miles, or of savage life in every age and clime.' (Sketches in Ire more than twice the area of the county of Carlo It con- land by the Rev. Cæsar Otway, p. 13.) The average elevatains several spots of great interest to the tourist; such as tion of the western part of the island is no more than from Loch Salt, the prospect from which over Horn Head and 50 to 60 feet above the level of the sea, and the want of Tory Island has been justly celebrated, and Glen Veagh, shelter is felt very severely in those north-westerly gales under the eastern declivity of Dooish, where cliffs of 1000 which set in with such violence on this coast. In the sumfeet hang for upwards of two miles over a glen and lake; mer of 1826, it is said, a gale from this quarter drove the the opposite bank being clothed with a natural forest which sea in immense waves over the whole flat part of the island, is still the retreat of the red deer. destroying the corn and washing the potatoes out of the furrows. From the liberties of Londonderry northward, the coast of Loch Foyle between the mountains of Inishowen and the From Bloody Foreland south to Malin Beg Head, a dissea, is well inhabited and improved. Muff, close to the tance of 40 miles in a straight line, nothing can be more county boundary, and Moville, near the mouth of the Loch, desolate than the aspect of the western coast of Doneare much frequented, the latter especially by the citizens gal. Vast moors studded with pools of bog water descend of Derry during the bathing season. From Inishowen Head to the Atlantic between barren deltas of sand, through at the entrance of Loch Foyle, the coast, which from this which each river and rivulet of the coast winds its way to point is very rocky and precipitous, bends north-west to the sea. In winter when these sandy channels are overMalin Head, the most northern point of this county and of flowed, it is impossible to proceed by the coast line, as Ireland. The cliffs at Inishowen Head are 313 feet in there are no bridges over any of the larger streams north height: at Bin Head, about half-way between Culdaff and of the village of Glanties. The wildest part of this disMalin, they rise to the altitude of 814 feet above the sea. trict is called the Rosses, in which the village of Dunglo On the Loch Swilly side of the peninsula the coast is low, or Cloghanlea containing, in 1821, 253 inhabitants, is the and in many places covered with sand, which the north- principal place. A great number of islands lie off this westerly gales heap up in immense quantities on all the coast separated from the main-land, and from one anexposed beaches of this coast. Loch Swilly extends inland other by narrow sounds and sand-banks. Of these, eleven upwards of twenty miles, and forms a spacious and secure are inhabited; of which the principal are Aranmore, or the harbour: the average breadth is about one mile and a half, north Island of Aran, containing in 1821, 132 houses, and and the inner basin is completely land-locked; but the 788 inhabitants; Rutland or Innismacdurn, containing 29 vicinity of Loch Foyle, which floats vessels of 900 tons up to houses, and 173 inhabitants; Innisfree, containing 25 the bridge of Derry, renders Loch Swilly of less importance as houses, and 171 inhabitants; and Owney, containing 12 a harbour. On the river Swilly, a little above its entrance houses and 76 inhabitants. The cause of so dense a popuinto the Loch, stands Letterkenny, a thriving town, which lation in this desolate country is the success of the herring supplies most of the country to the westward with articles fishing here in 1784 and 1785, when each winter's fishing of import. Rathmelton, and Rathmullen are situated on was calculated to have produced to the inhabitants of the the western shore of the Loch, the latter nearly opposite Rosses a sum of 40,000., who loaded with herrings upwards Buncrana, and all in the midst of well improved vicinities. of 300 vessels in each of these years. These successes The rise of spring tides opposite Buncrana is 18 feet. West-induced the government, in conjunction with the Marquis ward from Loch Swilly, the coast of Fanad, which is penin- of Conyngham the proprietor, to expend, it is said, 50,000. sulated by the Bay of Mulroy, is very rugged, and in many parts overspread with sand blown in between the higher points of rock. The Bay of Mulroy is encumbered with sandbanks and intricate windings: it extends inland upwards of ten miles, and is completely land-locked, being scarcely half a quarter of a mile wide at the entrance. The small peninsula of Rosguill intercepted between this bay and Sheep Haven, has been almost obliterated by the sands which have been in the improvements necessary to erect a permanent fishing station on the island of Innismacdurn. A small town was built and called Rutland, but it was scarcely completed when the herrings began to desert the coast; at the same time the sands began to blow, and have since continued to accumulate to such a degree that at present the island is nearly half covered, and the fishing station quite oblite rated. Below high-water mark on the coast of Innisfree, Rosapenna-hos isthmus, with al buried to such a house some year opposite shore of e house and de he same time the ster. On a crk Dunfanaghy, north of it to the of 626 feet. On ation of the rod nd sets in from cavern with s he rock above ay be heard at een Horn Head ishoffin, Innis istance of e e miles and a cers in breadth ive race of pes Sland contained had ever be Courist who ba remote distra y having bee about the r people she of food s e was ere onished the branches a wart had the sement, and nless perse -a pet ches in In erage clea e than from he want d sterly als n the sum drove the island Out of the ad a de be mon of Dene descend through Swarb e over line, as S north grows a marine grass peculiarly sweet and nutritive for this natural disposition marks out the three chief lines of mountain road; viz., from Ballyshannon and Donegal to Lifford and Londonderry, through the gap of Barnesmore; from Ardara to Lifford and Letterkenny, by the head of the Finn; and from Dunfanaghy and the cultivated country about Sheep Haven into the Rosses, by the passes between Dooish and Erigal. These latter roads are little frequented, so that west of Enniskillen the gap of Barnesmore is the only ordinary communication between Connaught and Ulster. The district along the Foyle and round the head of Loch Swilly is as well supplied with means of communication by land and water as any other part of Ireland. Throughout the county the roads are good. The district of the Rosses is separated from the more The climate of Donegal is raw and boisterous, except in the sheltered country along the Foyle. The prevalent winds are from the west and north-west, and the violence with which they blow may be estimated from the effects of the storm of December 4, 1811, in which His Majesty's ship Salhander was lost in Loch Swilly. The maws and gills of all the fish cast on shore-eels, cod, haddock, lobsters, &c.--were filled with sand; from which it would appear, that by the furious agitation of the sea, the sand became so blended with it, that the fish were suffocated. Eels are fished in fifteen fathoms, and cod in twenty to thirty; hence making allowance for their approach nearer shore before the storm, we may judge of the depth to which the agitation of the water descended: the ordinary depth in a gale of wind is seven feet below the surface, and in a heavy storm twelve to fourteen feet. (Geological Transactions, iii. c. 13.) From the remains of natural forests in many situations where no timber will at present rise against the north-west blast, it has been inferred that the climate is now more severe than it formerly was, a conjecture which would seem to be corroborated by numerous ruins of churches and houses, overwhelmed by sand blown in on situations where, had such events been common at the time of their foundation, no one would have ventured on building. The deposit of sand at the bottom of the sea is daily increased by the detritus of loose primitive rock brought down by every river of the coast; so that with each succeeding storm a greater quantity may be expected to be blown in, until the whole coast becomes one sandy desert, unless the danger be obviated by timely plantations of bent grass and the extirpation of those multitudes of rabbits whose burrows now extend, in many places, for several miles along the shore, and prevent the natural grasses from binding down the loose matter. The Floetz limestone-field, which occupies the central plain of Ireland, extends over the borders of this county from Bundoran, where the limestone cliff rises to the height of 100 feet over the Atlantic, ten miles north-east to Ballintra, where the extreme edge of the stratum is perforated by a subterraneous river. Limestone gravel is also found along the flanks of the primitive district as far as some miles north of Donegal town, and to the presence of this valuable substance may be chiefly attributed the cultivation which distinguishes this part of the county from the steril tract that separates it from the basin of the Foyle. From the mountains of Barnesmore, north, the whole formation of this county, with the exception of the transition tract along the basin of the Foyle, is primitive. The Finn, which is the chief feeder of the Foyle on this innumerable. The general direction of all the valleys which intersect the highlands of Donegal is north-east and south-west, and P. C., No. 541. VOL .IX.-M |