were well received by the sultan ; and after remaining here till the 14th December they again set out for the purpose of exploring the course of the Niger. They arrived in safety at Murmur, where Oudney breathed his last in the arms of his companion. Clapperton, however, penetrated alone as far as Sackatu, 13 N. lat. and 6| E. long., where he was obliged to stop, though the Niger was only five days journey to the west. Worn out with travel he returned to Kouka, where he again met Denham. The two travellers then set out for Tripoli, and thence proceeded to England, where they arrived on June 1, 1825. An account of the travels of Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney was published under the title of The Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the years
1822-24.Immediately after his return Clapperton was raised to the rank of commander, and sent out with another expedi tion to Africa. He set sail in August 1825, in company with Captain Pearce, Mr Dickson, Dr Morrison, and Richard Lander, who acted as his servant. On this occasion he landed at Badagry in the Bight of Benin, and immediately commenced his journey into the interior, along with Lander, Captain Pearce, and Dr Morrison. The last two soon fell victims to the hardships of the journey ; but in January 1826 Clapperton reached Katunga, the capital of Yariba, and soon afterwards crossed the Niger at Broussa, the spot where Mungo Park met his untimely fate. In July he arrived at Kano, a city which he had previously visited. Here he left his servant with the baggage, and proceeded alone to Sackatu, intending to proceed to Timbuctu. The sultan, however, detained him, and being seized with dysentery he died at Sackatu on the 13th April 1827. His Journal was published by Lander, who also wrote a work entitled Records of Captain Clapperton s last Expedition to Africa, which appeared in 1830, in 2 vols. 12mo.
CLARE, a maritime county in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster, bounded N.W. by the Atlantic, S. by the estuary of the Shannon, S.E. and N.E. by Limerick, Tipperary, Lough Dearg, and Galway, having an area of 1293 square miles, or 827,994 acres.
Although the surface of the county is hilly, and in some parts even mountainous, it nowhere rises to a great eleva tion. Much of the western baronies of Moyarta and Ibrickan is composed of bog land. Bogs are frequent also in the mountainous districts elsewhere, except in the lime stone barony of Burren, the inhabitants of some parts of which supply themselves with turf from the opposite shores of Connemara. Generally speaking, the eastern parts of the county are mountainous, with tracts of rich pasture land interspersed ; the west abounds with bog ; and the north is rocky and best adapted for grazing sheep. In the southern part, along the banks of the Fergus and Shannon, are the bands of rich low grounds called corcasses, of various breadth, indenting the land in a great variety of shapes. They are composed of deep rich loam, and are distinguished as the black corcasses, adapted for tillage, and the blue, used more advantageously as meadow land.
The coast is in general rocky, and occasionally bold and precipitous in the extreme, as may be observed at the picturesque cliffs of Moher within a few miles of Ennistymon and Lisdoonvarna, which rise perpendicularly at O Brien s tower to an elevation of 580 feet. The coast of Clare is indented with several bays, the chief of which are Ballyvaghan, Liscannor, and Malbay ; but from Black Head to Loop Head, that is, along the entire western boundary of the county formed by the Atlantic, there is no safe harbour except Liscannor Bay. The county possesses only one large river, the Fergus; but nearly 100 miles of its boundary-line are washed by the River Shannon, which, after almost dividing Ireland from north to south, and dispensing its bounties to the adjoining counties of Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Galway, King s County, Kerry, Tipperary, and Limerick, enters the Atlantic Ocean between this county and Kerry. The numerous bays and creeks on both sides of this noble river render its navigation safe in every wind ; but the passage to and from Limerick is often tedious, and the port of Kilrush has from that cause gained in import ance. The River Fergus is navigable from the Shannon to the town of Clare, which is the terminating point of its natural navigation, and the port of all the central districts of the county. A railway traverses Clare county via Ennis, connecting Limerick with Athenry and Galway.
There are upwards of one hundred lakes and tarns in the county, of which the largest are Loughs O Grady, Graneg, Tedane, Inchiquin, Inniscronan, and Clonlea ; but they are more remarkable for picturesque beauty than size or utility, with the exception of the extensive and navigable Lough Derg, formed by the River Shannon between this county and Tipperary.
Although metals and minerals have been found in many places throughout the county, they do not often show themselves in sufficient abundance to induce the appli cation of capital for their extraction. The principal metals are lead, iron, and manganese. Lead mines were recently worked at Kilbricken in the barony of Bunratty (about six miles from Ennis), and at Annaglough. The Milltown lead mine in the barony of Tulla is probably one of the oldest mines in Ireland, and at one time, if the extent of the ancient excavations may be taken as a guide, there must have been a very rich deposit. The richest lead mine worked in recent times is that of Ballyhickey, about two miles from Kilbricken. Copper pyrites occurs in several parts of Burren, but in small quantity. Coal exists at Labasheeda on the right bank of the Shannon, but the seams are thin. Limestone occupies all the central and northern parts of the county in a tract bounded on the S. by the Shannon, on the E. by a line running parallel with the Ougarnee River to Scariff Bay, on the N. by the mountain of Talla and the confines of Galway, on the W. by Galway Bay and aline including Kilfenora, Corofin, and Ennis, and meeting the Shannon at the mouth of the Fergus. Within half a mile of the Milltown lead mine are immense natural vaulted passages of limestone, through which the River Ardsullas winds a singular course. The lower limestone of the eastern portion of the county has been found to contain several very large deposits of argentiferous galena. Flags, easily quarried, are procured near Kilrush, and thinner flags near Ennistymon. Slates are quarried in several places, the best being those of Broadford and Killaloe, which are nearly equal to the finest procured in Wales. A species of very fine black marble is obtained near Ennis ; it takes a high polish, and is free from the white spots with which the black Kilkenny marble is marked.
The mineral springs, which are found in many places, are chiefly chalybeate. That of Lisdoonvarna, about eight miles from Ennistymon, has long been celebrated for its medicinal qualities. There are chalybeate springs of less note at Scool, Colneen, Kilkishen, Burren, Kilcoran, Broadford, Lahinch, Kilkee, Kilrush, Killadysart, and Gas- sino, near Miltown Malbay. Springs called by the people "holy" or "blessed" wells, generally mineral waters, are common ; but the belief in their power of performing cures in inveterate maladies is nearly extinct.
afford many situations admirably adapted for summer bathing-places. Among the best frequented of these locali ties are Burren, Miltown Malbay, with one of the best beaches on the western coast, Lahinch, about two miles
from Ennistymon, and near the interesting cliffs of Moher,