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DON
and 30 subordinate constables and 116 men, with nine
horses, the expense of whose maintenance is defrayed
by equal Grand Jury presentments and by Government.
The district lunatic asylum is in Londonderry and the
county infirmary at Lifford. There are dispensaries
at Lifford, Ballintra, Raphoe, Taughboyne, Killybegs,
Moville, Clonmany, Killygarvan, Kilmacrenan, Kilcar,
Letterkenny, Donegal, Muff, Culdaff, Stranorlar, Rut-
land, Donagh, Killygorden, Dunkaneely, Ramelton,
Buncrana, Careygart, Ballyshannon, Dunfanaghy, and
Mount-Charles, maintained by voluntary subscriptions
and Grand Jury presentments in equal proportions.
The amount of Grand Jury presentments for 1835 was
£27,609. 1. 4., of which £163. 10. was for the public
roads of the county at large; £14,799. 2. 4. for the
public roads, being the baronial charge; £5301.18. l1½.
for public buildings and charities, officers’ salaries, &c.;
£3480. 10.3. for police; and £3863. 19. 9½. in repay-
ment of a loan advanced by Government. In the military
arrangements the county is in the northern district.
There are infantry barracks at Lifford and Ballyshannon,
and artillery forts at Greencastle, Inch island, Rutland
island, and at several places along the shores of Lough
Swilly, each of which, except Greencastle, is garrisoned
by a single gunner.
Donegal is the most western of the three northern
counties of Ireland. The surface, which is much
varied, may be arranged into two great divisions of moun-
tain and champaign. The latter, which is subdivided
into two portions by the Barnesmore mountains, com-
prises the barony of Raphoe and the maritime parts of
that of Tyrhugh, round Ballyshannon and Donegal.
The mountain region, comprehending all the remainder
of the county, is interspersed with fertile valleys and
tracts of good land, especially in the baronies of Kilma-
crenan and Ennishowen. The most elevated mountains
are Errigal, which, according to the Ordnance survey,
rises 2463 feet above the level of the sea; Blue Stack,
2313 feet; Dooish West, 2143; Slieve Snaght, 2019;
Silver Hill, 1967; Slieve League, 1964; and Aghla,
1958. There are also five others which have an eleva-
tion of more than 1500 feet, and twelve more exceeding
1000 feet in height. The most improved and populous
district is that on the borders of the rivets Fin and
Swilly, and the eastern confines near Lifford. In the
western champaign district, between Ballintra and Bally-
shannon, the surface is in many places moory, heathy
and rocky, particularly near the south-east, where at a
distance of three or four miles from the sea it rises into
a tract of mountains ten or twelve miles broad, which
sweeps round by Pettigo, Lough Derg, and the confines
of Fermanagh; from these a range extends westward
by Killybegs to Tellen Head, whence a vast expanse
stretches by Rutland, the Rosses, and the shores of the
Atlantic, across Loughs Swilly and Foyle, into the coun-
ties of Londonderry and Antrim. From Barnesmore to
Donegal and Ballintra, the country is composed of bleak
hills, many of which, though high, are covered with
a sweet and profitable vegetation, while several points in
the ascent from Killybegs into the mountains of the
north present fine views of the bay and harbour of that
port. Even amidst the wilds of Boylagh and Bannagh
are cultivated and well-peopled valleys, but the district
of the Rosses presents mostly a desolate waste. On its
western side is a region of scattered rocks and hills,
VOL. I.—473
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some on the mainland, others insulated: the larger of
these rocks are thinly covered with peat and moss; a few
admit of some degree of cultivation, while almost all the
innumerable smaller rocks are entirely bare. Collec-
tively, this group is known by the name of the islands
of the Rosses. Arranmore, the largest, containing
about 600 acres, is about two miles from the mainland;
on Innis Mac Durn is the little town of Rutland; the
largest of the rest are Irvan, Inniskeera, Inisfree, Owey
and Gruit. Northward of the Rosses lies the district of
Cloghanealy, in Kilmacrenan, entirely composed of dis-
jointed rocks and dark heath, except where, at a lesser
elevation near the sea, a stunted sward appears. On
the northern coast, about five miles from the shore, is
the island of Tory. The peninsula of Rossguill, formed
by the bays of Sheephaven and Mulroy, and that of
Fannet by Mulroy and Lough Swilly, are of similar
character, except that in the latter the mountains attain
a greater altitude, are separated by larger and more
fertile valleys, and command prospects of such extent
and variety as to attract visiters from distant parts.
Lough Swilly, an arm of the sea penetrating far into the
land, and receiving at its southern extremity the river
from which it derives its name, has on its western shores
a tract of rich arable soil losing itself gradually in the
mountains, while its eastern side presents a tract of
similar character extending towards Derry, under the
general denominations of Blanket-nook and Laggan.
To the north of the city of Londonderry lies the barony
of Ennishowen, a large peninsula bounded on the east
and west by the gulfs of Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly.
It consists of a central group of mountains with a border
of cultivation verging to the water’s edge: in the moun-
tains of Glentogher is an expanse of 4000 acres of peat
and heath. Besides the great inlets on the northern
coast already noticed, the shores are indented with
numerous smaller recesses. The islands, except some of
those of the Rosses, are very small, the principal being
Rockiburn island, off Tellen Head; Inisbarnog, off Loch-
rusmore bay; Roanmish, off Iniskeel; Gold island,
Inismanan, Inis-Irhir, Inisbeg, Inisduh, and Inis-bofin,
off Kilmacrenan barony; and Seal island, Ennistrahull
and the Garvilands, off Ennishowen. The lakes are
numerous but small. The principalare Lough Derg,
near the southern boundary of the county, celebrated
for St. Patrick’s Purgatory, a place of annual resort for
numerous pilgrims, the particulars of which will be
found in the account of Ternplecarne parish; and Lough
Esk, near Donegal, a fine expanse of water environed
with wild and romantic scenery. The others are Loughs
Fin and Mourne (the head waters of rivers of the same
name), Salt, Glen, Muck, Barra, Bee, Killeen, Broden,
Veagh, Cartan, Dale, Kest, Fern, Golagh, and Nuire,
with several others round the base of Slieve Snaght
mountain; one near Dobeg, in Fannet; others in the
Rosses, and others near Nairn, Ardara, Glenona, Glen-
leaghan, Lettermacaward, Brown Hall, Ballyshannon
and elsewhere.
The climate was formerly cold and unhealthy, with
an incessant humidity of atmosphere; but the drainage
of some of the lakes and marshes, and the lowering of
the levels and deepening of the beds’ of several rivers,
during late years, have produced a very beneficial change,
both as to the health of the inhabitants and the increase
of arable land: the soils are very various: the richest
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