, the place of inauguration for the
Maguires, chieftains of Fermanagh, held in veneration by the peasantry,
in connexion with legends and ancient superstitions. The remainder of
the county is not deficient in wood, and contains numerous lakes,
generally of small dimensions, but of much beauty, especially Lough
Oughter, with its many inlets and islands formed by the Erne river,
between the towns of Cavan and Killashandra. The county also shares with
other counties the waters of Lough Gowna and Lough Sheelin, in which, as
elsewhere in the county, the fishing is good. The chief river in the
county is the Erne, which originates in Lough Scrabby, one of the minor
sheets of water communicating with Lough Gowna on the borders of
Longford. The river takes a northerly direction by Killashandra and
Belturbet, being enlarged during its course by the Annalee and other
smaller streams, and finally enters Lough Erne near the northern limit
of the county. The other waters, consisting of numerous lakes and their
connecting streams, are mostly tributary to the Erne. A copious spring
called the Shannon Pot, at the foot of the Cuilcagh Mountain, in the
barony of Tullyhaw, is regarded as the source of the river Shannon. The
Blackwater, a tributary of the Boyne, also rises in this county, near
Bailieborough. Several mineral springs exist in this county, the chief
of which is near the once frequented village of Swanlinbar. In the
neighbourhood of Belturbet, near the small lake of Annagh, is a
carbonated chalybeate spring. There are several other springs of less
importance; and the small Lough Leighs, or Lough-an-Leighaghs, which
signifies the healing lake, on the summit of a mountain between
Bailieborough and Kingscourt, is celebrated for its antiscorbutic
properties. The level of this lake never varies. It has no visible
supply nor vent for its discharge; nor is it ever frozen during the
severest winters.

_Geology_.--This elongated county includes on the north-west some of
the highland of Millstone Grit and Coal-Measures that rises above
Lough Allen. The beds below these are referred to the English Yoredale
series, and include some flaggy sandstones. It is on this series that
the Shannon rises, under the high outlier of grit on Cuilcagh. The
Carboniferous Limestone then stretches down to Cavan town, a bold
outlier of the higher strata being left above Ballyconnell. The river
Erne forms, in the limestone area, a characterist