( 148 ) 



In the place where this man ^\■as digging, the Peat lay only in Imall 

 parcels, or collected portions, and near the fame fpot there was not 

 any token or appearance of Peat. I was at the fame time furprized, 

 to fee lying on the fand among the Peat, a certain fubftance of 

 a fine blue colour, and I was told, that, near the place, it had been 

 found in a larger quantity, and enough of it colle6led to fill a fmall 

 caflc, which had been carried aw ay and fold. 



At another time, in pafllng through the town of Helvoetfluys, I 

 obferved before the houfcs of feveral poor people, parcels of Peat piled 

 up to dry, and I was told that it was good fuel, but produced a difa- 

 greeable fmell, and that it had been dug out in enlarging the dock for 

 Ihips; and on breaking fome of this Peat in pieces, I perceivtd in it 

 fome fmall fliinin-g particles, which induced me to carry home a fmail 

 quantity of it, that I might examine it by the microfcope. 



I was informed, that this Peat was d g in a place where tliere had 

 formerly been a dyke, or bank againft the lea, and that the peat did not 

 lye i na regular bed, but only in three places, and that under it was the 

 kind of fand we call klapzand, all which, upon examination, I found to 

 be as related. Hereupon I concluded, that this fand, called klapzand, 

 had in former times been the fea-fliore, and that the Peat had by floods 

 been brought to tlie three places where it was now found, and afters- 

 wards covered with fand from the fea, or that wafhed down the river. 

 On my return home, 1 examined this Peat by the microfcope, and 

 found, that the before mentioned fliining particles were the feeds of 

 fome plant, which, if they had been larger, might have been taken for 

 beans, but thefe were fcarcely the fifteenth part of an inch in diameter. 

 Other fliining particles I alfo obferved in this Peat, which, upon a 

 more accurate examination, I found to be pieces of the fkins of thofe 

 flying infects which are produced by tranfmutation from maggots or 

 caterpillars, who hide themfelves in the earth ; and, among others, I 

 fa\v fome pieces of an infed of the beetle kind, which, as it frequently 



