144 Compassion and Charity of the lower Orders. alms, had taken stations (some of which were hutted) by the side of the road, to attract the notice and benevolence of passengers. Several even of those whose appearance denoted the scantiest means, in passing contributed their mite. As hospitality among the higher orders, so does charity among those in the humbler walks of life, rank high in the Irish catalogue of virtues. An universal opinion prevails among the latter, that whatever is bestowed for the relief of the wretched, will be restored four-fold. I will not, however, do them the injustice of attributing their compassion to selfish motives; I perceived no appearance of ostentation, no expectation of future remuneration, in their laudable acts of this description for whatever may be the defects in the characters of Irishmen, want of feeling and kind-heartedness cannot be imputed to them. The store of humanity, however, must be possessed in abundance, to support the incessant claims which are here made upon it; and it may be questioned, whether the relief thus readily afforded, may not have the effect of increasing the number of supplicants.

On our return, the bustle of bartering the labor of individuals, for the supply of wants to their families had ceased: the streets were no

Proceed to Balla Mona.

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longer thronged, and the scene had materially changed, by a large proportion of the people having quitted the town, whose example, as we have fifteen miles to Balla Mona, we are anxious to follow. Adieu!

VOL. 1.

L

J. C. C.

Balla Mona, August 21, 1813.

THE singular appearance of the mountains which approach Ballymoney, seemed to indicate the commencement of the Basaltic country. For ten miles we passed over a very high and poor surface, after which we descended into the bog of Culdee, deriving its name, as it is supposed, from a religious order of Culdees. In the Celtic, the word imports "the espoused of God:" its extent is very considerable, and comprises many thousand acres.

From the successful appearance of the recently made improvements, on several parts of the bog, little doubt can be entertained, that the whole might be brought under tillage. The principal means by which the crops at present are raised, are the ashes procured by the burning of its upper surface, which is unattended with any great labor. Round a space from six to ten feet in diameter, a trench of a foot deep, and of

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the same width, is dug; the soil from which is laid on the adjoining surface of equal breadth, to dry; beyond this, another circle of sods is taken out, and laid to dry in the same manner; and thus the work proceeds, until the quantity dug, with that which is left undisturbed for a floor, is as much as can be properly burnt on the space in the centre. As soon as the sods are sufficiently dry, some are gathered together; the heap is set on fire; and additions are made of wet and dry sods, from time to time, so as to keep up a regular, moderate, and smothered fire.

In proportion to the attention paid to these particulars, is the husbandman rewarded by the quantity of potash he will procure, much of which, by a rapid combustion, would be volatilized and thrown into the air. The labor is greatly reduced by burning the sods in the centre; and though all are aware that a hasty flaming fire is disadvantageous to their interest, the reason of its being so is known to few, or, that it is to the vegetable alkali thus procured, they are principally indebted for the beneficial results of the practice.

This bog is parcelled out into farms, which are let on leases of lives, after the rate of twenty shillings per acre. I think there is no doubt of

148 The rural Irish labor only to exist.

excellent flax, generally speaking, being produced on the bogs; and possibly hemp might also be cultivated to advantage.

A very extraordinary state of indifference, even to their own interest, seems to pervade the proprietors of these vast tracts of bog, all of which would probably remain in statu quo, were it not for the overwhelming torrents of population which are forced over them, who, like drowning men, seize the sod and venerate the soil that saves their lives. It is the stimulus of dire necessity, not the encouragement of competent neighbours, that alone gives the impulse to this description of improvement.

On the first view of the possibility that so extended a cultivation may be effected, in a country abounding with the means, and where by far the greater proportion of the people are glad to drag on a daily existence merely to labor and labor merely to exist!-to feel the toils of to-day must be the task of to-morrow→→→ the mind becomes delighted with the animating hope, that the time is not far distant, when by these rural efforts all shall reap the comforts which constant employment to so glorious an end will furnish. Want of active employment, or in other words, apathy and idleness, engender