[ 63 ] 

 THE SIUCIFIBD WOOD OF LOUGH xXlvAC.II. 



BY WII.UAM SWANvSTON, K.G.S. 



" Lough Neagh hones ! Lough Neagh hones ! 

 You put them in sticks, and you take them out sIoiks. 



Old Pedlar a Cnj. 



IrKLANd is rich in legendary lore, there being scarce a river 

 or lake throughout its green expanse which has not associated 

 with it some wierd tale; many of these relate to their origin, 

 while others refer, perhaps, to the virtues of their sparkling 

 waters. It is no wonder, then, that Lough Neagh — the largest 

 sheet of fresh w^ater in the country — should have its strange 

 stories. We have all heard how the mythical giant scooped 

 the hollow which now holds the waters of the louirh, and 

 dropping the material in the Irish Sea, formed the Isle of 

 Man. The legend which Moore has embalmed in verse 

 points to a different source, indicative of inundation or sub- 

 sidence of the area, evidence of which the strolling fisherman 

 is credited with seeing : 



"The round towers of other days 

 In the waves beneath him shining." 



The virtue attributed to the waters of Lough Neagh of turn- 

 ing wood into stone, dates from an early period, and it seems 

 strange that, while those legends referring to the lake's origin 

 are abandoned in this age of progress, there are still many 

 w^ho would hesitate to pronounce the petrifying virtue of its 

 w^aters a myth. Looking into the question of the origin of 

 the Lough Neagh petrified wood, it is astonishing how many 

 references have incidentally been made to it; in most cases 

 the subject being touched cautiously, writers evidently not 

 wishing to commit themselves to a decided opinion regarding 

 it. It has been thought that a brief resume of these, bringing 

 the subject in a measure up to date, would not be inappro- 

 priate to the pages of The Irish Naturalist. 



First, ho^vever, we must briefly glance at the geological 

 features of the district. Stretching along the southern and 

 south-western shores of the lake, attaining an area of i8o 

 square miles, and a thickness of several hundred feet, is a 

 series of greyish and whitish clays, resembling pipe-clays. 

 Boulder clay and soil are spread over their surface. To the 

 westward these clays overlie rocks of Secondary and Primary 



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