154 The Irish Naturalist. [June, 



A.D, 1809, December G,—Bog of Rine, Camlin River, County Long- 

 ford. — " In the night, during a thunderstorm, about 20 acres of the bog 

 burst asunder in numerous places, leaving chasms of many perches in 

 length, and of various breadths, from 10 feet to 3 inches. The rifts were in 

 general parallel to the river, but in some places the smaller rifts were at 

 right angles to it ; not only the bog, but the bed of the river was forced 

 upward ; the boggy bottom filling up the channel of the river, and rising 

 3 or 4 feet above its former banks. In a few hours 170 acres of land 

 were by these means overflowed, and they continued in that state for 

 many months, till the bed of the river was cleared by much labour and 

 at considerable expense." The bog had been an unusually wet one. 

 It did not sink in any particular place. " Several earthquakes were felt 

 in distant countries about i6th December, . . . and it is not absolutely 

 impossible that a communication may exist between them " [the earth- 

 quake and the bog-slide.]' 



A.D. I8I9, January. — Owenmore Valley, Erris, Co. Mayo. — " A moun- 

 tain tarn burst its banks, and heaving the bog that confined it, came like 

 a liquid wall a-down, forcing everything along, boulders, bog timber, and 

 sludge, until, as it were in an instant, it broke upon the houses [of a 

 small village], carrying all before it, stones, timbers, and bodies, and it 

 was only some days after, that at the estuary of the river in TuUohan 

 Bay, the bodies of the poor people were found. "^ 



A.D. 1 82 1, June 26. — Bog of Kilmaleady, near Clara, Kings Co. — The 

 excellent report on the outbreak of this bog, communicated to the 

 |loyal Dublin Society by Sir Richard Griffith, may with advantage be 

 consulted by those who are interested in the subject. It will be found 

 in \^i^ Journal oi the Royal Dublin Society, vol. i., pp. I4i-I44and map, 

 1858. 



Sir William Wilde gives the following additional particu- 

 lars taken from the dail}^ press of the time : — - 



*'At 7 p.m., of the evening of the 26th June, the south front of the 

 bog of Ballykillion, or Kilnalady, gave way to a depth of 25 feet, and 

 with a tremendous noise, commenced to move down the valley at the 

 rate of about 2 yards an hour, with a front 200 yards wide, and about 8 

 feet deep. ... It continued to move for more than a month. 



" About the same time the Ferret bog, about 16 miles north-east of 

 Kilnalady, was strongly agitated, boiling up to a great height.'" 



A.D. I82Iy September.— yirj'iT^ Country, County Galway. — "Upwards 

 of a hundred acres of land, on which crops were growing and several 

 families resided, were heard to emit a sound resembling thunder ; the 

 earth then became convulsed, and eventually this large tract moved 

 down towards the sea, leaving the whole route over which it passed a 

 complete waste."* 



, Edgeworth, App. 8 to 2nd Report of Bog Commission, p. 176. 181 1. 

 ^Otway, " Sketches in Krris and Tirawley," p. 14, 1841. 

 8 Census of Ireland for the year 1S51, part v., vol. i., 1856, pp. 189, 190. 

 * Jbid., p. 90. 



