THE PLANTATION IN ULSTER.

CHAPTER I.-ULSTER BEFORE THE PLANTATION.

I.

T is told of an Ultonian, who lived in the third century, that from a peak in the Beanna Boirche, now the Mourne mountains, he could see all the land northward to DunSobhairce [Dunseverick], and southward as far as Dun-Dealgan [Dundalk]. In other words, he thus beheld at a glance the great northern division of Ireland nearly throughout its whole length, for the Uladh or Ultonia of that remote period included the present county of Louth, which now belongs to Leinster. The above statement is found in the Dinnseanchus, a topographical tract of the eighth century on the origin of the names of many remarkable places in Ireland (1). But the Ulster man of to-day may easily test the truth of this ancient record by a visit to some elevated peak among his native mountains, from which he will find that his eye can traverse nearly every leading division of our noble northern land. Thus, even from the summit of a mountain named Knocklayd, an elevation of not more than 1690 feet in the northern Glens of Antrim, he may behold all the country westward as far as Slieve-Snaght [snowy mountain], on the distant border of Donegal; and southward to the vicinity of Newry, where Slieve-Gullen appears, on clear days, as if resting in an amber-coloured sea. Should he take his stand on the

(1). In Ireland.—Two copies at least of the Dinnseanchus have been preserved, varying in some slight respects, but both highly valuable, as containing our earliest topographical notices of Ireland. When accounting for the name Beanna Boirche, by which the Mourne mountains were anciently designated, the Dinnseanchus in the Book of Lecan says:-"Benn Boirche, why so called? Boirche, a cow-herd, son of Ros Righbuidhi, and this pinnacle was his head seat. And alike did he herd every cow from Dan-Sobhairce [Dunseverick] to Inbher Colptha [Colp], and from Boinn [Boyne] to Beann Boirchi." In reference to this matter, O'Donovan states that "the mountains usually called Beanna Boirche, i.e., the peaks of Boirche, were called (according to the Dinnseanchus) after Boirche, the shepherd of Ros, king of Ulster in the third century, who herded the king's cattle on these mountains. Dinnseanchus it is stated that the shepherd Boirche could view from these mountains [of Mourne] all the land southwards as far as Dun-Dealgan, and northwards as far as Dun-Sobhairce." (See Book of Rights, translated and annotated by O'Donovan, p. 165; see also pp. 38, 157, 169; O'Flaherty's Ogygia, part iii., chap. 69; Annals

In the

of the Four Masters, pp. 735, 1495; Irish Topographical Poems, translated and annotated by O'Donovan, note 182; Reeves's Eccles. Antiquities, p. 369). Thus, although this celebrated herdsman appears to have had charge, as superintendent, of all ancient Uladh, which then reached southward to the mouth of the river Boyne, he could only see in that direction as far as Dundalk, from his 'head seat' in the Mourne mountains.

Uladh was not known by its present name of Ulster until after the invasions and settlements of the Norsemen on its shores. "According to Worsae (p.230), the termination ster, in the names of three of the provinces, is the Scandinavian stadr, ‘a place,' which has been added to the old Irish names. Leinster is the place (or province) of Laighen or Layn; Ulster is contracted from Ula-ster, the Irish name Uladh being pronounced Ulla; and Munster from Moon-ster, or Mounster (whieh is the form found in a State paper of 1515), the first syllable representing the pronunciation of the Irish Mumhan."-See Joyce's Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, pp. 104, 105.

conical peak of Slieve-Snaght, or even on one of its huge shoulders, the hills and glens of Inishowen, the lakes, and dells, and streams of that wildly picturesque region, are literally spread at his feet; whilst far away, his eye rests on many attractive places, including the Magilligan Strand, the heights around the city of Derry, and even the headlands on the Antrim coast. But, as an illustration better still, let him ascend that magnificent alpine range, now known as the Sperrin mountains, which extends along the mutual border of Londonderry and Tyrone, and forms the culminating point of the extensive highlands in both those counties. The highest peak there, called Sawel, is about 2,230 feet above the sea-level, and from it the spectator may be literally said to behold, as on a map, the several divisions of Ulster; and more especially those counties which our task will require us to notice in detail, and which group themselves, with one exception, around and near the base of the mighty mountain range now mentioned. The whole field of the plantation thus lies all around, extending from Lough Ramor, which forms one part of the boundary line with Leinster on the south, to the coasts of Derry and Donegal on the north-west; and from Lough Neagh and the Bann on the east, beyond Lough Erne, and to the boundary line with Connaught on the

west.

Although our northern mountains have been formed generally in groups, and often in isolated masses, instead of in ranges, yet the eye can easily trace two distinct series, made up of such groups and masses, running almost parallel to each other across this northern province from east to west. The northern series, passing through the counties of Antrim, Derry, and Donegal, is broken by two great straths or vales, along which the Foyle and the Bann flow into the Atlantic. The southern series, extending through the counties of Down, Monaghan, Cavan, and Fermanagh, is skirted along its whole length by a succession of fertile and beautiful glens. The vast central area of comparatively level country comprises, with slight exceptions, the plantation lands, and is diversified throughout its whole extent by many a pleasant lake (2) and river (3), by undulating hills, fertile plains, and valleys, which combine alike the picturesque beauty and fertility of hill and plain. This area is free, also, as compared with other provinces of Ireland, from those dismal-looking patches

(2). Pleasant lake.-The great number of lakes or loughs in Ulster, large and small, is indeed still remarkable, although several of the latter class are known to have disappeared during the last three centuries. Lough Neagh, from its vast extent, cannot be associated with one district or region of Ulster in particular, for its waters form a mutual border of the five counties of Londonderry, Antrim, Down, Armagh, and Tyrone. The same may be said, although to a less extent, of the beautiful Lough Erne, whose waters lie mainly in the county of Fermanagh, but belong also slightly to Cavan on the south, and to Donegal on the north-west. In this principal class of the Ulster lakes may also be mentioned the beautiful loughs Melvin and Macnean, on the boundary with Connaught; loughs Gowna, Kinnail, and Sheelin, on the boundary with Leinster; lough Oughter, almost in the centre of the county of Cavan; lough Ramor, on the south-east border of the same county; the Cootehill lakes, on the mutual border of the counties of Cavan and Monaghan; and loughs Derg, Esk, and Veagh, in the

central and southern districts of the county of Donegal.

(3). And river.—The principal rivers of the six counties aforesaid are the Erne, which flows from the southern boundary of Ulster, through the counties of Cavan and Fermanagh, and falls into the sea at Ballyshannon; the Foyle, composed of many little tributaries in the counties of Donegal and Tyrone, flows across the whole western wing of the county of Londonderry, and falls into Lough Foyle; the Bann, born in a dell among the Mourne mountains, comes northward through Down, Armagh, and Lough Neagh, and on escaping thence, forms the boundary between Antrim and Londonderry, crossing the north-eastern wing of the latter before reaching the sea below Coleraine; the Blackwater, which rises in Tyrone, and, in its course to Lough Neagh, forms the boundary between Tyrone and Armagh; the Faughan and Ree, flowing into Lough Foyle, and the Mayola into Lough Neagh; together with several smaller rivers falling into Lough Neagh, Lough Swilly, Lough Erne, the Bay of Donegal, and into the creeks along that coast.