MUNSTER

From The New London Gazetteer, 1826:

"Kerry, a county of Ireland, province of Munster, 53 m. long and 41 broad; bounded E by Limerick and Cork, W by the Atlantic, N by the Shannon, which separates it from Thomond, and S by Desmond nd the ocean, containing 1,040,487 acres, divided into 84 parishes. Chief rivers, the Cashing, Lane, Roughy, and Mang. The S is a plain, and fertile in corn; but the greater part is mountainous, chiefly adapted for grazing. Considerable quantities of beef, buttter, hides, and tallow, are exported. It sends 4 m mbers to parliament. Pop 205,037. Chief town, Tralee."

From the Topographic Dictionary of Ireland, 1837:

The northern part of County Kerry, lying towards the Shannon River is comparatively low. To the south is an extensive range of mountains, many of the summits of which are among the highest in Ireland (a few thousand feet).  The valleys are commonly occupied with bog, round the upper edge of which, and along the margins of the streams, are narrow stripes of cultivated land.  The southern baronies are among the wildest and most uncultivated tracts in the county.

The lakes in the mountainous regions are numerous but few are of large dimensions. The most remarkable, both for extent and beauty, is the celebrated Lough Leine, the principal of the lakes of Killarney, three in number, which are connected by straits.

Several of the mountain ridges from headlands projecting boldly into the sea, the intermediate valleys being the basins of noble bays and estuaries, into which the rivers empty themselves.

The bogs are not confined to the mountainous districts, but occur frequently in large continous tracts in all parts of the county and cover an extent of 105,577 acres, exclusive of small bogs, not estimated.  The general crops are potatoes, wheat, barley, oats and flax. Vegetables, with few exceptions, are little known.  Dairies abound, especally in the district around Castleisland.

This county produces the celebrated Kacageogh cider.  The fuel universally used is turf, of which the supply may be said to be inexhaustible.  The chief manufacture, that of course linen, is nearly confined to the barony of Corkaguiney.  The flax is uniformly grown on potato soil and yields abundantly.

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