vated marine
clays, of post-glacial date, fringe the south-eastern coast, while
gravels with marine shells, side by side with flint implements chipped
by early man, have been lifted some 20 ft. above sea-level near Larne.

Rock-salt some 80 ft. thick is mined in the Trias near Carrickfergus.
The Keuper clays yield material for bricks. Bauxite, probably derived
from the decay of lavas, is found between Glenarm and Broughshane,
associated with brown and red pisolitic iron-ores; both these materials
are worked commercially. Bauxite occurs also near Ballintoy. The
Ballycastle coal is raised and sold locally.

_Industries._--The climate is very temperate. The soil varies greatly
according to the district, being in some cases a rich loam, in others a
chalky marl, and elsewhere showing a coating of peat. The proportion of
barren land to the total area is roughly as 1 to 9; and of tillage to
pasture as 2 to 3. Tillage is therefore, relatively to other counties,
well advanced, and oats and potatoes are largely, though decreasingly,
cultivated. Flax is a less important crop than formerly. The numbers of
cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry are generally increasing. Dutch,
Ayrshire and other breeds are used to improve the breed of cattle by
crossing. Little natural wood remains in the county, but plantations
flourish on the great estates, and orchards have proved successful.

The linen manufacture is the most important industry. Cotton-spinning by
jennies was first introduced by Robert Joy and Thomas M'Cabe of Belfast
in 1777; and an estimate made twenty-three years later showed upwards of
27,000 hands employed in this industry within 10 m. of Belfast, which
remains the centre for it. Women are employed in the working of patterns
on muslin. There are several paper-mills at Bushmills in the north;
whisky-distilling is carried on; and there are valuable sea-fisheries
divided between the district of Ballycastle and Carrickfergus, while the
former is the headquarters of a salmon-fishery district. The workings at
the Ballycastle collieries are probably the oldest in Ireland. In 1770
the miners accidentally discovered a complete gallery, which has been
driven many hundred yards into the bed of coal, branching into
thirty-six chambers dressed quite square, and in a workman-like manner.
No tradition of the mine having been formerly worked remained in the
neighbourhood. The coal of some of the beds is bituminous, and of others
anthracite.