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KER
abounds with common green copperas, for extracting
which works were erected at Tralee, but were relin-
quished for want of a market. Pipe-clay, potters’-clay,
fullers’-earth, brown ochre, and rotten stone, like
tripoli, are met with in various places. Very fine ame-
thysts have been found in the cliffs near Kerry Head;
and sulphur appears on the north of Cashen river, near
Ballybunnian. A kind of whetstone used for razors is
found near the Devil’s Punch Bowl. Fossil shells are
to be met with in most places where there is limestone:
they are chiefly of the cockle kind, and generally consist
of lumps of sparry matter, the shell being wholly decom-
posed, and only the shape remaining. Coraloids are
also discernible. Of the plants peculiar to this county,
or only found on the ridge that separates it from the
county of Cork, the most remarkable is the arbutus,
which, with the yew and holly, gives a perpetual verdure
to the natural woods of Killarney. The prostrate juniper
occurs on the shore near Derriquin, on the Kenmare
estuary. Saxifrages in numerous varieties descend from
the summit of the Reeks to the sea shore; and those
plants that luxuriate in a moist climate are more nume-
rous and diversified in Kerry than in any other county
in Ireland: such are of the orders Musci, Hepaticce, and
Lichenes, and of these, several new species have been
added to the British list.
The chief manufacture, that of coarse linens, is
nearly confined to the barony of Corkaguiney, where it
was formerly much more extensive than at present; and
the word “Dingle,” impressed upon the cloth, procured
for it a ready sale at foreign markets. The flax is uni-
formly raised on potatoe soil, and yields abundantly;
latterly, since attention has been paid to saving the
seed, half the quantity of imported seed is found to
be sufficient. The kind of linen most in demand was
known by the name of “Box-and-trip,” and owed its
character to the careful method of preparing the yarn;
but the sale has latterly declined, in consequence of the
inferior method of manufacture: it is wrought in pieces
from 140 to 200 yards in length. Another kind of linen
is also made here, called Bandle linen, from being of
the width of fourteen inches, which makes the measure
called a bandle: both sorts were in much demand, as
well for domestic consumption as for the army and
navy. The woollen manufacture is carried on for domes-
tic purposes only; all the wool being sent to Cork or
Limerick, where it is purchased and made up into cloth.
The Coomduffe mountains form an exception to this
remark, for the tenants there pay their rent by flannels,
which are sold at the markets of Tralee and Dingle.
The fishery is carried on chiefly from the ports of
Valencia and Dingle; the kinds taken are cod, ling, hake,
glasson, and some haddock. Along the shores of the
Kenmare river the fishery is also carried on to some
extent; and here that of pilchards was also a great
source of profit, but the fish have quitted the coast many
years since. Salmon is also abundant, though much
thinned by the seals, which frequent the shores in such
numbers that the rocks are covered with them in Sum-
mer: these are killed sometimes with musket balls, and
sometimes by moonlight in the caverns where they sleep.
Dingle bay is famous for its crayfish, and for lobsters
on its northern side; oysters and other shell fish are to
be obtained in many places. A great disadvantage which
the entire county labours under is the want of means
for exporting its produce: there are but few quays, so
46
KER
that it loses nearly all the advantages of its maritime
situation. Much might be done in this respect by open-
ing the mouth of the Cashen, and by improving the
harbour of Tarbert, which is capable of being made one
of the most useful ports on the Shannon. A ship canal
from Tralee to the bay of that name has been for some
time in progress.
The rivers are numerous, but none of great length.
The Feale rises in the mountains that separate Kerry
and Limerick, and receives the Gale or Galey near
Rattoo from the north-east, and afterwards the Brick
from the south. From the junction of these three, the
united stream takes the name of Cashen, and discharges
itself into the estuary of the Shannon, near Ballybun-
nian. The tide flows up the whole of the Cashen, and
boats proceed as far as Lixnaw, on the Brick, at high
water. The Mang, or Maine, rises near Castleisland,
and proceeding south-west is augmented by the Flesk-
roe, and after passing by Castlemaine, to which place it
is navigable, it falls into the harbour of that name. The
Lee is a small stream rising a few miles east of Tralee,
but when augmented by the mountain streams after
rain, its body of water is so considerable as frequently
to overflow a great part of that town, to which it is
navigable from the sea by boats. The Flesk, the second
river in size, rises near the eastern boundary of the
county, and flowing in a very winding course through
the valley of Glenflesk, discharges itself into the Lower
lake of Killarney. The only outlet for the waters of
these lakes is the Laune, or Lane, which empties itself
into Castlemaine harbour, after receiving the Gheestan.
The Cara rises in the mountains of Dunkerron, passes
through Glencarra, and after forming a lake, falls into the
same bay. The Fartagh and Inny, or Eeny, rise in the
Iveragh mountains and flow westward, the former into
Valencia harbour, the latter into Ballinaskellig’s bay.
The Roughty empties itself into the inner extremity of
the arm of the sea called the river or bay of Kenmare,
into the northern side of which the Finihy, Blackwater,
and Sneem also fall. Most of these rivers abound with
salmon and trout. The Great Blackwater rises in the
north-east of Kerry, and after forming the boundary
between this county and Cork, flows eastward through
the latter county into the Atlantic at Youghal. The
roads have of late years been considerably improved. A
government road from Castleisland to King-William’s-
Town is in progress, and another under the Board of
Public Works, from Kenmare to Glengariff, in continu-
ation of a line from Killarney to Kenmare (completed
about ten years since), which will open a communica-
tion through a wild and mountainous tract. Several
other new roads are also in progress or projected.
The vestiges of antiquity scattered over the county
are very numerous, though the most common are the
traces of the military struggles of which it has been
the scene. It had formerly three of the ancient round
towers, of which the one that stood near the cathedral
of Ardfert fell in 1771; of another, at Aghadoc, there
are about 20 feet remaining; aud the third is still
standing nearly entire at Rattoo. Staigue fort, in the
parish of Kilcrohane, is an extraordinary circular build-
ing of the most remote date: there is another stone
fort with seats around it, about three miles distant, but
in ruins, from the inferior solidity of its workmanship;
and a similar enclosure is likewise to be seen in Iveragh,
on the opposite side of the river from Cahirciveen.