268 A HUNDKED YEAES 



tliey may have been the seeds of the buck or bog bean 

 which grew at one time on the bottom of shallow lochs 

 which have since filled up; but Mr. Lindsay is not of 

 this opinion. 



There is, I think, an impression abroad that peat is 

 a very modern growth and is quickly formed. I think 

 this idea is quite erroneous. That it is very modern 

 compared with our rocks is certain, but, still, I hold to the 

 belief that our peat is a very old formation, though still 

 growing slowly. Can anyone tell when was the Bronze 

 Age up here ? We found a perfect bronze spear-head in 

 one of the peat-bogs, pretty near the surface, with a 

 deer's antler lying close to it; and, to show what a pre- 

 servative peat is, part of the wooden shaft of the spear 

 was still to the fore when the spear-head was found. 

 Now, in the days of the primitive man who owned this 

 spear this peat-bog must have been very much what it 

 is now, otherwise the spear would not have been so near 

 the surface. 



There was also a very valuable find of bronze anti- 

 quities in this neighbourhood a few years ago. On 

 going to examine the place, I found that the peat was 

 not three feet deep, showing that it had not grown much 

 since the day when the owner had buried his treasures, 

 as it would not be likely that he would have hidden 

 them in a place having less than a couple of feet of peat 

 at least. Close to my house there is a bog in a hollow, 

 enclosed all round with a rim of rock, and on trying to 

 drain it we found it impossible to do so without cutting 

 the rock. We probed the peat and found it fourteen feet 

 thick. 



Usually the trees found under the peat have their roots 



