[ 3^ ] 



hatchet on their trunks ; veftiges of fire applied for their deftruc- 

 tion ; the pieces of charcoal into which many of them have been 

 burnt *; paleings, and fmall enclofures, found at the level where 

 they have formerly grown f; all feem to prove the interference of 

 human induftry in the extirpation of thefe noble trees, and even 

 to aflign no very remote period for that event. 



Leathern fhoes, wooden veffels filled with butter, and other 

 light fubftances, found at confiderablc depths in turf-bogs J, 

 and not likely to have defcended through the matted texture of 

 that fubftance, give additional teftimony to the opinion, that 

 the exiftence of thefe bogs, and, of courfe, that of the trees which 

 they contain, is not of an extremely ancient date. 



It is needlefs to recal the attention of the Academy to the 

 difficulty of raifing trees, at prefent, in many of thofe fituations 

 where the ancient pine and oak of Ireland have, within the period 

 of human exiflence, flourifhed with luxuriance. 



The 



♦ Found in a bog.in the liberties of the city of Londonderry. 



f In a bog near Surock, county of Weflmeath : near Kilrufli, county of Clare ; at 

 Carniflc, near Ramelton, county of Donegal. 



:}; Omitting other inftances : Two wooden veflels, containing butter, were very 

 lately found deep in a turf-bog, in the Fews mountains, near Ballymoire, the feat 

 of Sir Walter Synnott. The veflels were extremely inartificial, being little better 

 than the hollow trunks of feme large fpecies of willow : the butter was infipid, 

 inodorous, colourlefs, fomewhat refcmbling unftuous white fteatites in its touch 

 and appearance ; but its inflammability remained fo perfect, as to admit of its being 

 made into candles, to which ufe much of it was applied. 



