The surface of the country is uneven, consisting of hill and dale, without any great extent of level ground, but only in its northern extremity attaining a mountainous elevation. The barony of Tullyhaw, bordering on Fermanagh, a wild dreary mountain district, known as the kingdom of Gian or Glengavlin, contains the highest land in the county, called Slieve Russell. In the same barony is Quilca Mountain, the place of inauguration for the Macquires, chieftains of Fermanagh, held in veneration by the peasantry, in connection 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 interest for their picturesque beauty, more especially Lough Oughter, which lies between the towns of Cavan and Killashandra. The chief river in the county is the Erne, which originates in the Lake of Scrabby, one of the minor sheets of water communicating with Lough Gowna on the borders of Longford. The river takes a northerly direction by Killeshandra 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 Cuilagh 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.

Branch lines of the Midland, Great Western, and Great Northern railways traverse the county.

The climate is not very genial owing to the dampness arising from its numerous lakes and the nature of the soil, and to the boisterous winds which frequently prevail, more especially in the higher districts.

The south-eastern portion of Cavan rests upon clay-slate, and the remainder of the county upon the Carboniferous limestone formation. A rich iron ore was formerly raised from Quilca Mountain. Indications of lead, silver, and sulphur have been observed; and fullers’ earth, pipe-clay, potters’ clay, and brick clay are frequently met with in Tullyhaw barony, in which there are also indications of coal. 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. 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; neither is it jver frozen during the severest winters.

The soil is generally a stiff clay, cold and watery, but capable of much improvement by drainage, for which its undulating surface affords facilities. Agriculture has made little progress within the last twenty years; the extent of the farms being generally small. In the mountainous parts, however, where the land is chiefly under grazing, the farms are larger, and in stock raising the county has made considerable progress.

From the Owners of Land Return (1876) it appears that in 1875 Cavan was divided among 1044 proprietors, 328 of whom owned less than 1 acre, and 716 one acre and upwards. The largest estates were those of Lord Farnham (29,455 acres), Earl Annesley (24,221), and E. J. Saunderson (12,362). The average rateable value of the land was Ils. 10|d. per acre, while that of all Ulster was 15s. 8∣d.; and the average extent of the properties was 435 acres per owner, or nearly double the average size for Ulster, which was 239.

The following tables give comparative statements of the agriculture acreage in the years in 1853 and 1875, and of the live stock in 1852 and 1875 respectively :— [table]

The number of goats raised here greatly exceeds that in the other counties, with the exception of Kerry and Cork.

Cavan is not a manufacturing county. The bleaching of linen and the distillation of whisky are both carried on to a small extent; but the people are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits and in the sale of home produce. The soil in those districts not well adapted for tillage is peculiarly favourable for trees. The woods were formerly very considerable, and the timber found in the bogs is of large dimensions; but plantations are now chiefly found in demesnes, where they are extensive.

The population is less mixed in race than most parts of Ulster, being generally of Celtic extraction. The dwellings of the peasantry are poor in accommodation. There are in the county only four towns with upwards of 1000 inhabitants, viz., Cavan, Cootehill, Belturbet, and Bailieborough. The population in 1851 amounted to 174,064, and in 1871 to 140,735 (with an excess of 223 males), showing a decrease in twenty years of 33,329 persons, being an average of 1666 per annum, or 19 per cent., on the population of 1851. This is considerably above the average decrease of Ulster. At the census of 1871 there were 113,174 Catholics, 21,223 Episcopalians, 15,004 Presbyterians, and 1334 of other denominations, showing that 80 per cent, of the inhabitants professed the Catholic faith.

With regard to emigration, it appears that 11,129 persons left the county within the five years ending 1875, being at the rate of 2226 per annum, which is about the average of the rest of the province. The poor law is administered by a subdivision of the county and parts of the adjacent district into four unions, and these relieved 5126 paupers in 1874. Education is dispensed by means of 8 superior and 340 primary schools. In 1871 the number of persons of five and upwards who could read and write was 55,773; 31,438 could read hut could not write, and 48,104 could neither read nor write.

The county is divided into eight baronies—Castlerahan, Clanmahon, Clankee, Lough tee Lower and Upper, Tully-garvey, Tullyhaw, and Tullyhunco, and contains thirty-six parishes and parts of parishes. It is almost entirely within the diocese of Kilmore. In military arrangements it is in the Belfast district; and there are barracks for cavalry at Belturbet, and for infantry at Cavan, where also the staff of the county militia is stationed. The assizes are held at Cavan, where the county prison and the county infirmary are situated. Prior to the Union it returned six members to the Irish parliament, two for the county at large, and two for each of the boroughs of Cavan and Belturbet; but since that period it has been represented in the imperial parliament by two county members only.

The most ancient geographers describe this and the adjacent counties of Leitrim and Fermanagh as occupied by the tribe of the Erdini. At the period of the English settlement, and for some centuries afterwards, it was known by the name of the Brenny, or O’Reilly’s country; and its inhabitants, protected by the nature of the country, long maintained their independence. In 1584 Cavan was formed into a county of Ulster by Sir John Perrott, lorddeputy of Ireland, and subdivided into seven baronies, two of which were assigned to Sir John O’Reilly, free of all contributions, and three to other members of the family; while the two remaining baronies, possessed by the septs of Mackernon and Macgauran, and situated in the mountains bordering on O’Rourke’s country, were left subject to their ancient tenures and the exactions of their Irish lord, the Crown reserving 200 beeves upon the whole county for the lord-deputy’s provision. There was also an ancient subdivision, peculiar to this county, into polls, each of which contained about 25 acres. Early in the reign of James I., a commission of inquiry was issued concerning all lands in several counties of Ulster, escheated to the Crown by attainder, outlawry, or actual death in rebellion, by which the greater portion of this county was deemed to be vested in the Crown, and its exact state thereupon investigated. Under the consequent project for the new plantation of Ulster, the county was distributed among the undertakers, British planters, servitors, natives, ecclesiastics, &c. The principal English and Scotch families settled in Cavan were the Auchmuties, Bailies, Butlers, Hamiltons, Lamberts, Parsons, and Ridgeways. Some few remains of antiquity remain in the shape of cairns, raths, and the ruins of small castles.

Cavan, the capital of the above county, and, previous to the Union, a parliamentary borough, but now placed under the Towns Improvement Act, is situated near the centre of the county. It is 68 miles N.W. from Dublin (85½ by rail), on one of the tributary streams of the Annalee River, in a large valley surrounded on every side by elevated ground, with picturesque environs, adorned by the mansions and demesnes of Lord Farnham and the bishop of Kilmore. The town, which in 1871 contained 3380 inhabitants, is of unpretending and rather humble appearance. The court-house, erected at an expense of £11,000, is elegant in its proportions and convenient in its internal arrangements. The parish church, built on an elevated site, is also a graceful structure. The most conspicuous building is the grammar-school, founded by Charles I. It was rebuilt in 1819, at an expense of £9000, on an eminence overlooking one of the main entrances into the town, and is capable of accommodating one hundred resident pupils. The other public buildings are the Roman Catholic chapel and Dissenters’ meeting-houses, the county gaol and in-fîrmary, barracks, and the union workhouse. Cavan has still some linen trade, and a considerable retail business is transacted in the town. It is the seat of a presbytery of the Presbyterian church, but the great majority of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics. A monastery of Dominican friars, founded by O’Reilly, chieftain of the Brenny, formerly existed here, and became the burial-place of the celebrated Irish general, Owen O’Neal, who died as is supposed by poison, in 1649, at Cloughoughter. This monastery, and all the other antiquities of the town, have been swept away during the violent and continuous feuds to which the country has been subjected. Even so late as the year 1690 the chief portion of the town was burned by the Enniskilleners under General Wolseley.