Belfast is not only the second city in Ireland in population and wealth,
but the second in beauty of environs. Its growth has been, during the last
three-quarters of a century, greater than that of any city in these
islands. It is an immense jump in population from 37,000 in 1821 to
273,000 in 1891. In splendour of public buildings, cleanliness of streets,
and general appearance, Belfast can be favourably compared with any city
of equal size in any country. Its citizens are proud of it, and so they
ought to be, for it was their own enterprise that made it what it is. The
extraordinarily rapid growth of Belfast shows what manufactures can do for
a city, for without them it would still be hardly more important than any
of the provincial towns of Ulster. It has an excellent harbour, and
besides its linen manufactures, it has become one of the most important
ship-building places in the world. But it was its linen manufactures that
gave Belfast the start. It is the largest linen mart in the world; but
unfortunately for it, and every other place in which the manufacture of
linen is carried on, the competition of cotton fabrics is rapidly making
the manufacture of linen less profitable, and threatens to drive it out of
use almost entirely in the long run. If cotton were unknown, Belfast would
be now, in all probability, a place of a million of inhabitants, and
Ireland would be one of the richest, if not the very richest, country of
its size in the world. It is well known that for flax growing and for
linen bleaching Ireland is ahead of all countries. Experts say that in no
other country can flax be grown with a fibre so strong and yet so fine as
in Ireland. It seems to be the country of all others that is best suited
for the growth of flax out of which the finest linen fabrics can be made.
It would almost seem as if Ireland was fated to be for ever suffering some
sort of ill-luck, and that things which are blessings to humanity at large
are often misfortunes to her. There cannot be any doubt but that the
cotton plant has proved one of the greatest of blessings to mankind in
general, but it has been a great misfortune to Ireland. Were it not for
cotton, three-fourths of the land of Ireland would now be growing flax,
and it would most likely contain a dozen linen manufacturing centres as
large as Belfast. Whatever the future of the linen trade may be, it is
hardly possible that Belfast can ever sink into insignificance, for its
people have so much of the true commercial spirit in them that if linen
became as useless as the chain armour of the middle ages, they would turn
their energies to some other branch of manufacture and make it a success.
Belfast hardly figures at all in ancient Irish history or annals. It is a
comparatively new place. It is first mentioned in the Annals of the Four
Masters under the year 1476, where it is said, "A great army was led by
O'Neill against the son of Hugh Boy O'Neill; and he attacked the castle of
Bel-feiriste, which he took and demolished, and then returned to his
house." The name Belfast is a corruption of _Bel-feiriste_, or as it would
probably be written in modern Irish, Beulfearsaide, the mouth or pass of
the spindle. This seems nonsense, but the following, from Joyce's "Irish
Names of Places," will explain it: "The word _fearsad_ is applied to a
sand-bank formed near the mouth of a river by the opposing currents of
tide and stream, which at low water often formed a firm and comparatively
safe passage across. The term is pretty common, especially in the west,
where these _fearsets_ are of considerable importance; as in many places
they serve the inhabitants instead of bridges. A sand-bank of this kind
across the mouth of the Lagan gave name to Belfast, which is called in
Irish authorities Bel-feirisde, the ford of the _farset_; and the same
name in the uncontracted form, Belfarsad, occurs in Mayo." The Irish name
for a spindle is _fearsaid_; it also means a sand-bank, as described
above, probably because the shape of such sand-banks is generally
something like that of a spindle. According to the orthography of the Four
Masters, whose spelling of place names is generally correct, _feiriste_ is
the genitive singular of _fearsaid_; while in the name "Belfarsad,"
mentioned by Joyce, _forsad_ seems to be the genitive plural.
Belfast and its environs cannot be said to be very rich in monuments of
antiquity. There are, however, two round towers not far from it; one at
Antrim, some fifteen miles away, in excellent preservation; and one at
Drumbo, in the County Down, about five miles from the city. The last is in
a ruined condition--not much more than thirty feet of it remains. But
Belfast can boast of the most extraordinary monument of antiquity of its
kind in Ireland being in its immediate vicinity. This is the vast _rath_
known as the Giant's Ring. There is nothing in Ireland so fine as it. The
_rath_ on the summit of Knock Aillinn, in the County Kildare, which has
been already described in the article on that hill, is much larger, and
encloses three times the space; but the earthen ramparts are not nearly so
high as those of the Giant's Ring. The space enclosed by this gigantic
rath is seven statute acres. When standing in the centre of this ancient
fortress, nothing is seen but the sky above and the vast earthworks all
around. The centre is as level and almost as smooth as a billiard table,
and exactly in the centre stands a cromlech. Old men living in the
locality say that the ramparts were for many years planted with potatoes.
This must have reduced their height by many feet; but they are still
nearly, if not quite, twenty feet high. Like most ancient raths, it has
two entrances, one exactly opposite the other. It would give ample room to
a population of some thousands, and was evidently an ancient city. But one
of the most extraordinary things connected with the Giant's Ring is that
annals, history, and legend are silent about it. So far, there seems to be
no more known about those who built the Giant's Ring than about the
builders of the temples of Central America. It is the same with many of
the vast Cyclopean forts along the west coast, of which the Stague fort in
Kerry and the forts in the islands of Arran in Galway are the most
remarkable. There are, however, very few large earthen forts in any part
of Ireland about which annals and history are alike silent. The Giant's
Ring is by far the most remarkable structure of its kind in Ireland, and
the most remarkable of all the ancient remains in the vicinity of Belfast.
It has been much better preserved than most of the remains of its kind in
Ireland, for the landlord on whose property it is has built a stone wall
round it, so it is safe from spoliation.
The environs of Belfast are finer and more interesting than those of any
Irish city, Dublin alone excepted. It is really curious that so little
notice has been taken of them. The view from Devis Mountain, the top of
which is hardly more than four miles from the centre of the city, is one
of the finest and most extensive that can be seen in any part of Ireland.
The greater part of the north of Eastern Ulster can be seen from it. Ailsa
Craig in the Firth of Clyde seems almost at one's feet when standing on
the summit of Devis Mountain. To know the immensity of Loch Neagh, it
should be seen from there. It appears like a vast inland sea, out of all
proportion to the size of the island to which it is a curse rather than an
adornment; for it is one of the most utterly uninteresting of Irish
lakes. The view from Cave Hill is also very fine. This hill is only three
or four miles from Belfast.
[Illustration: BELFAST LOCH.]
Belfast Loch, as it is called, if not as picturesque as Dublin Bay, is,
nevertheless, a very fine bay, and has most beautiful and sumptuous
residences on its shores, particularly on the southern side. It is on this
side of the loch that Hollywood is situated. There are more fine,
well-kept residences in Hollywood than there are in the neighbourhood of
any other Irish city. The people of Belfast are proud of Hollywood, and
they ought to be. There are few places in the immediate vicinity of any
city of the size of Belfast in England or Scotland where so many fine,
well-kept, and sumptuous residences can be seen as in Hollywood. The
greater part of them are owned by Belfast merchants.
Few go to Belfast in search of the picturesque. It has got such a
commercial name that those who have never been there think that it has no
attractions save for the business man. But if Belfast is visited in the
summer time, if the views from its hills are seen, and if its beautiful
suburb of Hollywood is seen, it will be found that there are scenic
attractions of a very high order in the neighbourhood of the northern
capital.