DONEGAL, the most north-western county in the province of Ulster, in Ireland, is bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by the counties of Londonderry and Tyrone, and on the south by those of Fermanagh and Leitrim, and by the ocean. It contains 1,165,107 acres, or 1820 square miles, of which not more than 520,736 acres are arable, the remainder, amounting to 644,371 acres, being mountain and bog. In shape it somewhat resembles a rhomboidal quadrangle, indented on its maritime sides by numerous deep bays and inlets; its longer diameter, measured in a north-eastern direction from Tellen Head to Malin Head, being eighty-five miles; its shorter, extending in a south-eastern line, from Bloody Farland Point to the town of Lifford, forty-two miles.

According to Ptolemy, the Erdini and Venicnii were its ancient inhabitants. During the earlier period of its history, subsequently to the time of Henry IL, it was more generally known by the name of Tyrconnell, and comprised the country of the O’Doherties, and that of two branches of the M‘Swineys, besides whom the O’Gallaghers, O’Clerys, O’Donells, O’Boyles, and M t’ Canmeys, were leading families or septs. It is now divided into the six baronies of Bannagh, Boylagh, Innishowen, Kilmacrenan, Raphoe, and Tyrhugh, which are subdivided into fifty-nine parishes, besides four parts of parishes, the remainders of which extend into the adjoining counties. In the commencement of the reign of James I. the number of parishes was eighty-nine.

The county comprises the whole of the episcopal see of Raphoe, and a small part of that of Derry. The cathedral, which is built in Raphoe, a town otherwise of little notoriety, serves also for the parish church. Four clergymen’s widows are lodged and maintained in the town upon a foundation of a bishop of the name of Foster, who also founded a free school here, and erected a building for a library, the books of which are a bequest from Dr Hall of Trinity College, Dublin. The diocese contains thirty-seven parishes, in which there are thirty-three churches. The total of the glebc land throughout the diocese is estimated at 11,370 acres of ground of every quality, giving an average of 307 acres to each parish. The bishop’s income, according to a return made to parliament in 1831, is L.5379. 14s. ld. The barony of Innishowen, and the adjoining district, in the vicinity of the city of Londonderry, arc in Derry diocese.

The face of the country in the south and east is comparatively level; all the western and northern regions are mountainous, interspersed, however, with valleys and occasional expanses of good land. The most fertile and improved part is the barony of Raphoc, containing the towns of Raphoe, Lifford, and Stranorlar, and embracing a tract about twenty miles long by twelve broad. The soil is good for potatoes, oats, barley, and flax; but wheat, though it thrives in some parts, particularly along the course of the Finn river, is not much cultivated. The southern extremity of the county, in which the town of Ballyshannon stands, can also boast of some rich soil. The mountainous district, which spreads over more than one half of the county, after sloping from Belleek, on the borders of Fermanagh, in the south, to Barnesmore Hills northwards, turns westwards along the sea coast, by Killibegs, to the great promontory of Tellen Head; thence it spreads northwards over the waste expanse of the Rosses, and round by the north coast to Lough Swilly, and by Londonderry through Innishowen barony to Malin Head and Greencastle, where it is interrupted by Lough Foyle, but shows itself again in the northern parts of the counties of Londonderry and Antrim. The highest of these mountains is that of Arragh, which rises 2220 feet above the level of the sea, and is remarkable, not only for its superior elevation, but for one of the whin-dikes that are to be met with in Ireland only near the northern coasts; the dike rising forty feet perpendicularly, like a partition wall. Muckish Mountain, in Kilmacrenan barony, and Slieve Snaght, in Innishowen, are also of considerable height.

The soil is in general light, with a gravelly subsoil; though in some parts, as in the neighbourhood of Ballyshannon and Donegal, in the south, it is deep and rich, chiefly resting on a bed of limestone. The mountainous districts, though presenting little to excite the speculations of the agriculturist, possess much to attract the attention of the admirer of nature and the investigations of the scientific inquirer. The rugged precipitous declivities, intersected by winding bays and lakes imbedded in the valleys, exhibit an ever-changing variety of picturesque and magnificent scenery. The geological aspect of these regions affords indications of internal wealth which give fimple grounds for regret that they have been so seldom made the subject of scientific research. The minerals as yet discovered are lead and iron. Mines of the latter of these metals were formerly wrought in the parish of Temple-carne, until relinquished in consequence of the failure of timber for fuel. Manganese, yellow pyrites, and clay for potteries and brick-making, are also found. Siliceous sand, raised in Muckish Mountain, was conveyed in large quantities to Belfast for the manufacture of glass. Indications of coal have been observed near Lough Swilly, and at Inver on the southern coast.

The rivers, with the exception of the Foyle, which forms the boundary between this county and Tyrone and Londonderry, though numerous, are of very inferior size. The branches of the Foyle which rise in Donegal are the Derg, the Finn, and the Swilly, all of which originate in the central part of the county. The river itself, augmented by their contributions, and by those of several other branches from Tyrone and Londonderry, proceeds in a northern direction, and discharges itself into the southern extremity of Lough Foyle, at the city of Londonderry. It is navigable for vessels of large burden to this place, where their farther progress is prevented by a bridge; and thence by lighters of fifty tons as far as Lifford. Boats of fourteen tons can proceed up the Finn River as far as Castlefinn. The Erne flows from Lough Erne through the southern extremity of the countyjnto Ballyshannon Bay. Its navigation is prevented by a fall of twelve feet in the neighbourhood of Ballyshannon, and by another of thirty feet at Belleek, on the confines of Fermanagh. The Guibarra, the Awen Ea, and the Eask, arc the only other rivers of any note.

Lakes are numerous but small. Lough Derg, situate in Tyrhugh barony, between the counties of Tyrone and Fermanagh, is the most celebrated, yet not so much on account of its size, which is insignificant, or its scenic beauties, of which it possesses little, as from an island in it, named St Patrick’s Purgatory, which is one of the most [7:8:112]celebrated places of resort for pilgrims and devotees in Ireland. The extent of the island is less than an acre. The cave styled the Purgatory is formed of freestone; it is sixteen feet in length, two and a quarter in breadth, and so low that a man cannot stand upright in it. Several attempts made by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and by the government to prevent the performance of the ceremonies annually practised here have failed; it still continues to be a favourite place of worship. Loughs Eask, Ea, Gar-tan, Fearn, Finn, and Veagh, are worthy of note only as being the sources of some of the rivers which irrigate the country.

The bays and smaller inlets of the sea are numerous. Ballyshannon harbour, the most southern of them, is small, and has a bar at its mouth, as has Donegal and Inver harbours farther west. Killibegs harbour is well sheltered, and capable of receiving large vessels. On the western coast are Bruckles or M‘Swiney’s Bay, and Tellen harbour, suitable for small vessels; and on the north is Sheep Haven, within which is Dunfanaghy Bay, where the largest ships may lie in safety, as they may also in Mulroy Bay, farther east. Still farther eastwards is Lough Swilly, a capacious basin, plunging deep into the land, of easy access, and fit for vessels of any burden. Lough Foyle, the boundary between Donegal and Londonderry, may be more properly considered to belong to the latter county.

The islands of Arran constitute a small archipelago on the western coast, near the district called the Rosses. The herring fishery was carried on here with great spirit about fifty years ago, but is now nearly extinct, in consequence of the fish deserting the coast. A town called Rutland was built on 1nnismacdurn, one of these islands, for cdring and exporting the fish. Tory Island lies off the northern coast, about eight miles from shore. The inhabitants have little intercourse with the rest of the county; they maintain themselves chiefly by fishing and making kelp. An engagement between an English and French squadron took place near this island in 1798. On Ennistrahul Island, off Malin Head, there is a lighthouse. Inch Island, in the southern extremity of Lough Swilly, is of considerable size.

The following table affords a correct view of the names, extent, and population of the islands along the coast of Donegal, as far as their points have been ascertained, commencing with the most southern.
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The returns of the population, made at several periods by different authorities, give the following result:—
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The last of these returns gives an average of one individual to every four acres, or one family to every twenty-four acres; but if the arable land alone be considered, the average will be reduced to an individual to every two acres, or one family to twelve acres.

The representation in parliament is limited to the two county members. In the Irish parliament it had no less than twelve members; two for the county, and two for each of the boroughs of Ballyshannon, Donegal, Killibegs, Lifford, and Johnstown. The following table shows the variations of the constituency arising from the disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders in 1829, and the subsequent alterations arising out of the provisions of the reform act :—
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The preservation of the peace is entrusted to a force of six chief and ninety petty constables, acting under the authority of the magistrates, and maintained at an expense of L.5840, being an average of somewhat more than L.60 a man by the year.

The parliamentary returns as to the state of education in 1821 and 1S24-26 give the following results :—
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Of the number in the latter of these returns, 4055 were of the established church, 6603 were Roman Catholics, 3058 dissenters, and eighty-six whose religious persuasion had not been stated. The total number of schools was 399; of these, 258, containing 7764 pupils, were wholly [7:8:113]maintained by the fees of the pupils; eighty-eight schools, containing 4738 pupils, were supported by the voluntary contributions of societies or individuals; and but fifty-three schools, containing 3007 pupils, received grants of public money through the agency of a public board. A grammar school was founded in the town of Raphoe by James I., and endowed with a large grant of lands, which it still continues to enjoy under the regulations of commissioners appointed by the crown. Major Robinson, the son of a clergyman in Donegal town, bequeathed a large property for the maintenance of a school in every parish in the diocese of Raphoe, from which every teacher was to receive an annual salary of L.15.

The manners and habits of the people differ much, according to the local circumstances of the district they inhabit. The lowland and fertile districts are chiefly peopled by an industrious and comfortable yeomanry, composed of small farmers and artizans whose modes of life differ little from those in similar circumstances in the adjoining counties. In the mountainous and less cultivated tracts the want of a free intercourse, and the consequent tardy spread of manufacturing and agricultural improvement, have occasioned a corresponding tardiness in refinement of manners. Yet, so far as the state of crime may lead to a conclusion on this point, the population, though backward in the knowledge of the useful arts, are stained with few of the vices which indicate a demoralized state of society. Out of the total number of committals in 1830, amounting to 781, there were but 406 convictions; but three of these were capital, for horse stealing, and were commuted to transportation for life, and four were for transportation for seven years. Of the remainder, ninety were for illicit distillation, and thirty-seven for riotous assemblages, arising in many cases from the previously named offence. The nature of the country peculiarly favours the operations of the unlicensed distiller; but late statutes, mitigating the demoralizing severity of the revenue code, have already in some degree checked the practice. The houses, particularly in the mountainous parts, are poor. Little attention is paid to cleanliness. The pigs and other cattle, if any, are housed in them along with the family. The fuel is everywhere turf; the food potatoes and oaten bread, with milk and butter occasionally, and fish if near the sea. The men arc clothed in home-made frieze, the women chiefly in cheap cottons. The Irish language still maintains its ground in the retired parts, though its use is every year diminishing. Adepts in the language consider the dialect spoken in this county as the purest known.

The modes of agriculture present little peculiar to the county. The spadc still supplies the place of the plough in those parts where the rocky nature of the soil prevents the profitable application of the latter implement. In the southern parts a narrow spade with a long handle, and a resting place for the foot only on one side, is in common use. It is called a loy, and is peculiarly adapted to stiff clayey soils. Potatoes are planted with an implement called a steveen or kibbin, formed of a stake about four feet long, shod with iron, and having near the point a cross rest for the foot to act on when forcing it into the ridge; and the seed is dropt into the hole thus made. The cattle which are grazed on the coarse mountain pastures are subject to a kind of rheumatic affection called the cruppan. The animal becomes crippled, and, in the more aggravated stages of the disorder, is totally deprived of the usc of its limbs; the hair on the back starts up, and atrophy succeeds, which terminates in death. The means of cure found most successful is the removal of the diseased animal to soil of another quality. If, however, it should remain for a year on the soil which cures this disorder, it is liable to be attacked by another, called the galar, which causes a discharge of blood, followed by death unless prevented by a transfer to the pastures which had produced the former complaint. Horses are not subject to this latter malady. Feeding on cabbage and sea-rack has been suggested as a means for preventing the ravages of the cruppan. On the shores of Innisfree, one of the islands of North Arran, a species of grass, called by the inhabitants sweet-grass, springs up twelve feet under tide-mark of spring tides. It grows to the length of two or three yards, and is about the breadth of a compressed wheaten straw. At the lowest ebb of the spring tide the cattle run instinctively from the mountains to feed on this herb, as the greatest luxury, and persevere in so doing regularly at the particular period when the recess of the water leaves the plant exposed. In the mountain farms the fences are very bad, being formed of low turf ditches. In many cases the use of fences is disregarded, as a person is either sent to herd the cattle, or they are confined by tethers, t The care generally taken to house cattle, in order to prevent the attacks of the cruppan, and to collect manure, rénders the want of fences less injurious.

The manures in the neighbourhood of the sea are chiefly sea-weed, shelly sand, and house dung. Although the tract from Ballyshannon to Killibegs abounds with limestone and marl, the use of these as manures is not so great as their value, and the facilities of procuring them, would lead those unacquainted with the habits of the people to expect. Irrigation is general, and much encouraged by the landlords. Farming societies have been formed, and premiums offered, in order to excite a spirit of emulation in introducing improved modes of agriculture.

The herring fishery was carried on about fifty years ago to a great extent, and with considerable success, in the district of the Rosses, on the western coast. In the years 1784k85 the winter fishing produced L.40,000, and supplied cargoes for 300 vessels each year. Such was the success, that a fishing town, named Rutland, with suitable stores and curing houses, was built on the island of Innismacdurn; but the fishery shortly after declined, and has never regained its former character. The decay has been attributed to the summer fishing of what are called sprats, but thought to be the young herrings, which are thus carried off in myriads in a less profitable shape, and the full-grown fish deterred from the coast. Still, however, the fishery is carried on, though on a very reduced and fluctuating scale. The white fishery has latterly been more profitable. The following table will show the progress of both kinds, and the state of the fishing vessels during the period that the fisheries of Ireland were under the superintendence of a board empowered to make grants and loans of public money for their improvement.

M>>' mil’ll ł Number of Vessels and of Men registered and employed in the Fisheries of Donegal.
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Number of Barrels of Herrings, and Clots, of White Fish, marked for the Production Bounty, with the amount of Bounty granted.
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The fishery board also granted money in aid of building fishing piers at Green Castle in Lough Foyle, and Doagh-beg in Lough Swilly. In the project for the plantation of Ulster, drawn up in the early part of the reign of James I., twenty-five places in this county are named as being approved stations for the salmon, herring, and ling fishery. The principal salmon fishery at present is at Ballyshannon. Whale and sun-fish have been taken near the coast.

Manufactures never extend much beyond what the immediate demand of the population calls for. They are chiefly confined to linens and coarse woollens called friezes, of which latter a light blue is the favourite colour.

Numerous ruins of ancient castles along the coast prove that much attention was formerly paid to the defence of the country from invasion, or, what was more to be dreaded, piratical depredations. The principal are, Kilbarron Castle, near Ballyshannon; Donegal Castle, built by O’Donell; Burt and Inch Castles, both built in Lough Swilly, by Sir Cahir O’Dogherty, to whom is also attributed the erection of Green Castle on Lough Foyle. Near the Castle of Doe, or M‘Swiney’s Castle, at Horn Head, is a natural perforation in the roof of a cave, wrought by the workings of the ocean into the overhanging cliff. It is called M‘Swiney’s Gun. When the wind blows due north, and the tide is at half flood, the gun is seen to spout up jets of sea water to a great height, attended with explosions which are said to be heard in favourable weather at more than twenty miles distance. Culmore Fort, on the coast of Lough Swilly, is still maintained as a military station, at least so far as to afford a respectable income to some military person who performs the nominal duties of governor there.

Traces of religious houses, some however existing only in traditionary or documental records, are also numerous. Ashroe Abbey, on the Erne river, near Ballyshannon, was of great extent. The ruins of that of Donegal also afford proofs of its ancient grandeur. But its memory will be held in greater veneration by the lovers of antiquity for another reason. In it was written the celebrated collection of ancient Irish annals, still known by the name of the Annals of the Four Masters, compiled in the year 1632, by Michael O'Clery and his learned coadjutors, fellow brothers in that house, by the instigation and at the expense of Fergal O’Gara, lord of Moy O'Gara and Cool-avin, in the county of Sligo. The original of this curious and highly valuable manuscript is now lodged in the library of the Royal Irish Academy.

The towns in this county are few and insignificant. Lifford, the county town, is situated near its south-eastern extremity, on the river Foyle, and communicates by a bridge with Strabane, on the eastern bank of the same river, insomuch that it might almost be considered rather as a suburb of this more populous town, than as the metropolis of a county. Its population in 1821 amounted only to 976 souls. It can boast of no public buildings but those which owe their existence to the rank for which its position is so ill adapted, as attendance at the assizes here must be extremely inconvenient to residents in most of the other towns, which are chiefly near the sea-coast, at the other extremities. The buildings are a court-house, a prison, and an infirmary.

The reason given for fixing on a situation for the county town so inconvenient to the resident inhabitants, was, that the judges and barristers were saved the trouble cf travelling far into a county in which the roads at that time were few and ill constructed, and the accommodation in the inns very inferior. The other towns of any consequence, with their population in 1821, are as follows:
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Ballyshannon, situate at the embouchure of the Erne, which is here crossed by a bridge of nine arches, is worthy of notice for its trade, the chief articles of which are corn and salmon; for the remains of antiquity in its immediate vicinity; and for the picturesque scenery with which it is surrounded, and which is much heightened by the salmon leap across the river.