( h6 ) 



from the North -Weft, and that for this reafon, the roots of all the trees 

 fo dug up at this day do point towards the North- Weft. 



Thefe opinions I have often controverted : for how can it be 

 imagined, that fo great a quantity of Peat could be produced from 

 trees ftanding together in a wood ; inafmuch as Peat is in fome places 

 found coIle6led to the thicknefs of ten or twelve feet, and fometimes 

 more ? Neither can it be conceived, how thofe large oak trees, which 

 are newfound, lying in the midft of the Peat, could ever have grown 

 to their full fize in fuch a foil, for, a common ftorm of wind would 

 have been fufhcient to blow them down. 



Again, it is well known, that thofe trees which are found at a confi- 

 derable deptli in the Peat never have on them the fmall brandies on 

 the ftem, nor any fmall ramifications on the roots, and all thofe fmall 

 light branches of alders and willows which are found in Peat, are not 

 (as far as I have ever known) firm or folid in their kind.s,. but very 

 much decayed, the fame as if they had beezi for feveral years e.xpofed 

 to the air, or had died and withered on the trees, or were almoft rotten. 

 Tiiefe deca3'ed portions of wood cannot, as I conceive, have grown in 

 the places where they are now found, but muft have been carried 

 thither by fome flood, or ftream of water, and that they either floated 

 on the water, or had lain expofed to the air for feveral years, and 

 tiicrefore may properly be denominated decayed wood ; and I 

 remember, that on handling fome pieces of willow about the thick- 

 nefs of a finger, which I myfelf faw dug up, I found them as foft and 

 flexible as a withered carrot. 



Now, if thofe oak trees, which are found at a great depth in the 

 Peat, had originally grown in the fame place, fuch trees would 

 certainly be found with the fmall branches on their ftems and roots, 

 if not in the whole, at leaft in part, and thofe not decayed, for in the 

 very fame places there have been found in the Peat, hazle-nuts, with 

 their Ihells entire. 



