. The earth and its inhabitants .. . Bernagh from Slieve Arra, and with a rapid fall reachesLimerick, where it becomes a tidal river. We may fairly ask how it happens 392 THE BEITISH ISLES. that the Shannou, instead of flowing straight into Galway Bay, from which nonatural obstacle separates it, strikes across a mountain range formed of hard andsolid rocks, through which it had laboriously to cut itself a passage. It is quiteclear that the gorge of the Shannon is not a work of recent date; it was scoopedout long before the great central plain had been denuded of the masses of softerrocks which
. The earth and its inhabitants .. . Bernagh from Slieve Arra, and with a rapid fall reachesLimerick, where it becomes a tidal river. We may fairly ask how it happens 392 THE BEITISH ISLES. that the Shannou, instead of flowing straight into Galway Bay, from which nonatural obstacle separates it, strikes across a mountain range formed of hard andsolid rocks, through which it had laboriously to cut itself a passage. It is quiteclear that the gorge of the Shannon is not a work of recent date; it was scoopedout long before the great central plain had been denuded of the masses of softerrocks which formerly covered it. Then this mountain range formed no obstacle,for the river flowed at an elevation of many hundred feet above its present that remote epoch it first began to scoop out the ravine through whichit now takes its course, and the work of erosion kept pace with the denudationwhich swept away the coal measures of the great central plain. In this gorge, cut Fig. 198.—The Falls of Doonass, at ,.. I through Silurian slates and old red sandstone, the river has a rapid fall, andbefore it reaches the maritime plain pours its immense volume over a ledge ofrocks. Castleconnell, with its lofty towers, fine mansions, and green lawnsdescending to the waterside, commands this sublime spectacle of a foaming riverrushing onward through a congregation of huge rocks. The eye grows giddyas it follows the hurrying eddies. But, at the foot of the fall, all is peace. Thedeep and silent water, reflecting the trees that grow upon the banks, lies dormant ;the current is hardly perceptible ; and the river resembles a lake shut in by ivy-clad walls. Below Limerick the Shannon enters its broad and winding estuary—one of IRELAND. 393 those numerous indentations which vary the contour of Irelands Atlantic western seaboard of Ireland, like that of Scotland, and for the same reasons, isfar more indented than that facing the east. The bays of Leinster bear
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
