The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

ULSTER. .123
companies of London, to wliom it still belongs. A Doric column commemorates
the glorious siege of 1G89. A few miles to the westward of Londonderry,
ali-eady beyond the borders of the county, are the Grianan of Aileach, remarkable
as a si^ecimcn of the fortifications erected by the ancient Irish. On the western
shore of Lough Foyle are Mocille, a rising watering-place, and Grecncastle, where
the outward-bound American mail-packets call for telegrams. The railway which
skirts the eastern shore of the lough runa for a considerable distance along an
embankment raised upon land formerly flooded by the sea, but now drained and
brought under cultivation. Newtown Liinacady and Dungiven are on the Roe,
which descends from the Sperrin Mountains and flows into Lough Foyle. Colcraine,
on the Lower Bann, has already been referred to. It has for its outports Port-
dctvart and Portrush. Higher up on the Bann is Kilrea, and near Lough
Neagh McKjherafelt. All these towns of Londonderry largely depend for their
existence upon the linen industry.
Tyuone is an inland county, stretching from the Donegal Mountains to
Lough Neagh and its tributary, the Blackwater. It is traversed by the Foyle,
or Strule, and for the most part covered with hills, except in the east, where
an extensive plain of considerable fertility lies along the shore of Lough
Ncagh. Omcu/h, the county town, stands on the river Strule (the Upper Foyle)
in a fertile district, and carries on trade in corn and linen. Newtown Stewart, at
the head of the navigation of the river, is a small manufacturing village ;
whilst
Strahane, the most populous town of the county, owes its prosperity entirely
to the linen trade. In the plain bordering upon Lough Neagh are Coolcstuwn,
with flax-mills ; Stewartstown, with limestone quarries ; and Dungannoii, with
collieries at Coal Island. Cloghcr, an episcopal village, and Aughnacloy are on the
Blackwater.
The count}' of Armagh slopes from the barren mountains near the coast to
the fertile plain at the head of Lough Neagh. Armagh, the seat of the Protestant
primate of all Ireland and of a Catholic bishop, is one of the most celebrated
and beautiful cities in the country. It is built on a hill, and its ancient cathedral,
founded by St. Patrick, looks down upon the amphitheatre formed by its
marble houses. Near it is a famous observatory, founded in 1789 by Primate
Robinson. Keadij, to the south of Armagh, is a small manufacturing town.
Portadown, on the Upper Bann, is favourably situated for commerce, as a canal
connects it with Newry, and through the Bann and Lough Neagh with Ennis-
killen. Lurgan, to the east of the Bann, is the principal scat of the linen trade
in the county.
The county of Monaghan is intersected in its centre by a vale, through
which passes the Ulster Canal, and which the Inny drains into the Erne,
and the Blackwater into Lough Neagh. Lofty hills, culminating in Slicve
Beagh (1,258 feet), bound this vale in the north, and a somewhat lower range
separates it from the maritime plain of Louth. Monaghan, in the centre of
this vale, has a little trade in flax and corn, whilst Clones, on the Inny, is
interesting on account of its monastic ruins, supposed to date back to the fifth