THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY IN THE OLDEN TIME.

ORDER that the Story of Ireland, as set forth in this book, may be clearly understood, it is necessary, at the outset, to describe how the country looked in early ages, and to give some information about the daily life of the people. This will be done in the first six chap

ters. The state of things pictured here

existed in Ireland from a period beyond the reach of history down to about three hundred years ago, and partially much later: but with many changes from time to time during the long interval.

In old times the appearance of Ireland was very different from what it is at present. The country was everywhere covered with vast forests; and the hillsides, now generally so bare, were then clothed with woods looking down on the pleasant valleys beneath. There were great and dangerous marshes, quagmires, and bogs, covered with reeds, moss, and grass.

B

But

though bogs existed from the beginning, many districts where we now find them lying broad and deep were once forest land; and the bog grew after the surface had in some manner become bare of trees. Buried down at a depth of many feet in some of our present bogs, great tree trunks are often found, the relics of the primeval forest.

In those days, as the land of the country was so much encumbered with trees, it was justly regarded as a praiseworthy deed to help to clear spaces for tillage; and accordingly the Annals often record the clearing of certain plains by ancient kings. This work of clearing for tillage always went on; but in later times the forests were cut down quickly enough for another purpose, to supply fuel for smelting iron, which was a common industry in Ireland three or four hundred years ago. Besides all this, there was a regular export trade in Irish oak; and we know that a king of Ireland, Murkertagh O'Brien, presented William Rufus with a number of great oak trees cut down in a spot now covered by a part of Dublin city, with which Westminster Hall was roofed. From all these causes combined the great forests of Ireland were gradually cleared off and finally disappeared about two centuries ago.

At intervals through the country there were open grassy plains, but they were everywhere surrounded by forest land, and broken up and dotted over with clumps of trees and brushwood.

The same sparkling streamlets without number that still delight us tumbled down from the uplands; and there too were the same stately rivers and resounding waterfalls. But the streams and rivers were under little or no restraint: they were not artificially banked in and confined, as in many places they are now; and