From Cork Harbour a less broken and less precipitous coast runs on E.N.E. past Ballycotton Bay to the old town of Youghal, situated at the mouth of the River Blackwater. Just inside its mouth the estuary expands, forming a safe harbour, and Youghal stands picturesquely on the steep western bank. The Blackwater is tidal and forms a useful waterway as far as Cappoquin, 15 miles to the northward. In crossing the Blackwater we pass from Co. Cork into Co. Waterford (Self Catering, Waterford, Ireland), which possesses a varied coast-line. A bold shore runs from Youghal to Dungarvan Harbour, a rather large shallow bay with its upper part almost cut off by a straight spit of sand which extends from the southern shore nearly to the town of Dungarvan on the opposite side. Eastward, a stretch of coast, boldly precipitous in places, brings us to Tramore Bay, broad and sandy, with the watering-place of Tramore at its western end. As at Dungarvan, the inner part of the bay is almost cut off by a long sand-spit, in this case much broader and more mature.

A few miles further on we reach the broad entrance of Waterford Haven. The River Barrow, coming from the north, already joined by the Nore, meets the River Suir, coming from the west, at a point 10 miles from the sea, and the combined streams flow southward through a wide, deep estuary into the Atlantic. The important port and railway centre of Waterford stands on the south bank of the Suir, about 6 miles above its junction with the Barrow. The Suir is tidal as far as Carrick-on-Suir, and is used as a waterway ; and the Barrow is tidal as far as St Mullins, in Co. Carlow, whence the river is canalised for a great part of its length, and eventually joins the main line of the Grand Canal some 20 miles from Dublin.

Waterford Haven divides Munster from Leinster, so our coastal survey terminates here. The interesting Aran Islands, lying in Galway Bay between Clare and Connemara, belong politically to Galway, and arc referred to in the Connaught volume of this series. South of them, no island of importance is met with till we reach the Blaskets, which form the seaward prolongation of the mountainous Dingle promontory, and are themselves almost mountains in height. The Great Blasket, much the largest of the group and the only one which is inhabited, is a narrow ridge like a knife-edge, 4 miles long and nearly 1000 ft. high. At its eastern extremity, where a little shelter is available, a colony of houses clings to the steep slope, surrounded by a patch of cultivation. On the most westerly of the group, the Tearaght, a lighthouse stands. Some 20 miles to the southward, off Bolus Head, two lovely pinnacled rocks, the Skelligs, rise many hundreds of feet into the air. Another out-lying rock familiar to those who go down to the sea in ships is the Fastnet, lying off Cape Clear. Inshore are many larger islands, mostly wild and cliff-bound, though less romantic than the distant lighthouse-guarded rocks just mentioned. Valencia Island, Bcrc Island, and Clear Island are the most important. On the East Cork and Waterford coasts islands are very few and small.