605 



MARSHES. 



MARSHES. 



508 



re-action upon each other of the sulphates contained in the sea-water, 

 and the vegetable matter partly suspended and partly dissolved in the 

 water of the marshes, sulphuretted hydrogen gas is copiously evolved, 

 which if not wholly identical with the deadly miasma, certainly forms 

 a considerable and probably the most active part of it. Further in- 

 formation on this subject will be found in the article SKA, where its 

 gaseous constituents and its particular nature on certain coasts are 

 described. 



Nevertheless all marshes are not equally prejudicial to health ; but 

 independent of their different degrees of insalubrity, they present other 

 distinguishing features. The climate, the nature of the soil, and the 

 vegetation, are all so many circumstances which vary the appearance 

 and character of marshes. The quantity of water is also very different ; 

 in some cases it is hardly visible, while in others, at least in certain 

 seasons, the marsh presents the aspect of a multitude of stagnant pools 

 covered with aquatic birds. One of the five natural orders of birds, 

 the Waders (Gratt<e of Linnajus, GraUntwti of Illiger and of Vigors) 

 [BIRDS, in NAT. HIST. Div.], are the characteristic feathered inhabi- 

 tants of swamps and marshes ; in addition to which their waters support 

 their contingent of the order Swimming Birds, Anteres or Natatoro, 

 some of which are peculiar to them. This is the case with many of 

 the Tuscan marshes, which are moreover remarkable for their floating 

 islands, which sometimes unite and cover a large surface : these islands 

 have little solidity, and, eventually sinking, become in time converted 

 into peat, like those in the lakes of Cashmere ; some of these marshes 

 gain in extent, while the soil of others gradually rises, and the marsh 

 disappears. Reeds are particularly abundant in the Tuscan marshes, 

 and they are applied to a great number of useful purposes. The 

 quality of the marsh-water also differs : thus, in some of the marshes 

 of South Carolina, in the United States, it is salt, as likewise at 

 Rot-belle, Rochfort, &c., in France. In other places it is sulphurous, 

 as is the case with the marshes of Mesopotamia ; in many it is ferrugi- 

 nous, as in Siberia, where the marshes are strongly impregnated with 

 sulphate of iron from the vitriolic springs which flow into them. The 

 trees which are found imbedded in these marshes are so thoroughly 

 impregnated with oxide of iron, that they supply an ore of excellent 

 quality, furnishing a metal free from the defect of brittleness so 

 common to the iron of most other bog-ores. In some cases the water 

 of the marsh exhales an intolerable smell of sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 arising from the decomposition of the sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom 

 salts (which is continually forming on their banks), in conformity 

 with phenomena already noticed. (Siberia, and the banks of the 

 Euphrates.) 



In cold countries marshes freeze, but seldom become dry ; in warm 

 countries, on the contrary, the marshes are often dry, and such can 

 never form peat. As to the vegetation of marshes, it is either coin- 

 potted of reeds, rushes, algie, gramine:e, or mosses, of which several 

 species of Sphagnum, or bog-moss, are' the most common in peat-bogs. 

 Brushwood of .various kinds, and willows and alders, are also common 

 in marshy grounds. 



Marshes are found in all kinds of situations, in continents and in 

 i.-!:uicls (Iceland, Anau, Ice.), ou the margin of the sea, as well as in the 

 interior of the laud, on the slopes and even on the summits of moun- 

 tains, as well as in the plains. Most countries have them in greater or 

 less abundance, but it has been remarked that they are less common in 

 Asia and in Africa (as far as the latter is known) than in Europe, and 

 that they are more abundant in America than elsewhere. In this 

 latter part of the world almost all the plains are wet and abound in 

 marshes ; they are exceedingly common in the northern countries of 

 the globe, particularly in the flat parts bordering on the sea, where the 

 land is low and the subsoil clay. Here the rain and snow-water 

 accumulate, and remain for want of sufficient evaporation to carry 

 them off. 



It would be impossible to enumerate all the existing marshes : we 

 may however observe that in Italy there are the Tuscan and the 

 celebrated Pontine marshes, which are of great extent ; in France 

 there are about 1,500,000 arpens, or French acres, of marshes, some of 

 great surface, as that of Montoire near the mouth of the Loire, which 

 has been worked for its peat for upwards of five hundred years, and 

 gives constant employment to 8000 persons. Ireland contains about 

 3,000,000 acres of marsh ; the marsh or bog of Allen alone contains 

 300,000 acres, and there are others very extensive. England has had 

 many marshes, particularly in Lincolnshire, Somersetshire, Kent, and 

 Cambridgeshire ; Chester, Huntingdonshire, Lancashire, and Stafford 

 have also had extensive marshes, some of which contain embedded 

 trees, but the improvements in drainage of modern times have ren- 

 dered them insignificant, except in a few maritime localities. 

 Scotland is much diversified with marshy ground, as in Peebles- 

 shire, Ayrshire, Stirlingshire, Kinross, &c. As for Holland, the 

 whole country is properly a drained marsh, and it still contains 

 some extensive bogs which furnish peat. All the space along the 

 coast from Holland to Denmark is little better than a succession 

 of marsh and sand. Russia in Europe has marshes of vast extent, as 

 those at the source of the Don, along the river Pripitz, and round the 

 ea of Azoff, as also in Finland and the Baltic Provinces, in Lithuania 

 and Poland. The eastern part of Prussia abounds in swamps. Norway 

 and .Sweden have some bogs, but little in proportion to their territory, 

 .larabia in Turkey, and all along the lower Danube, there are 



extensive marshes covered with reeds. In Hungary the marshes are 

 estimated at 2,000,000 arpens. Switzerland has some considerable 

 swampy patches, many of which are on the slopes of the mountains and 

 in the higher valleys. In Spain and Portugal there are some extensive 

 marshes ; indeed they are more or less scattered all over Europe. 



Asia has its marshes and swamps, but they are less common than in 

 Europe, if we except the northern portion, where they are in great 

 number and very extensive, as between the lower Ob and the Yenisei, 

 and between this last river and the Lena. There is between the little 

 Tanguska and the Yenisei the marsh called Lis, equal in extent to the 

 great lake Ladoga, suspended as it were in the midst of rocky hills. 

 The province of Okhotsk has many swampy forests. A large part of 

 China is naturally swampy, but it is to a great extent drained by the 

 numerous canals which intersect the country. Tonquin has many 

 marshes, and the peninsula of Malacca contains many of great extent. 

 In India, the province of Oude has some extensive marshes covered 

 with reeds, the retreat of great herds of wild buffaloes. The mouths 

 of the greater part of the rivers of India are marshy, and large swamps 

 are sometimes found along their course, as is the case with the 

 Padder. There is a vast marsh in the valley of Cashmere, between 

 the city of that name and the \Vulur lake, from which indeed it is only 

 vaguely separated. In the northern provinces there are many savan- 

 nahs, or wet meadows. There are swumps along the Euphrates ; and 

 those of Mesopotamia are bitter, sulphurous, and salt. In Persia the 

 province of Ghilan, in other respects fertile and beautiful, is very un- 

 wholesome on account of its marshes and marshy forests. Mazenderan 

 has also many swamps. The eastern side of the lake Aral is marshy. The 

 steppes of the Kirghis abound in salt marshes and pools. The Asiatic 

 islands, that is, all those that are of any extent, contain marshes : thus 

 part of the coast of Sumatra is covered with extensive marshes, which 

 have caused it to receive the name of " the pestiferous coast ;" tha 

 reeds are gigantic bamboos, and a continual fog hangs over the aquatic 

 soil. Batavia, Sarnarang, and other places in the island of Java are 

 reputed to be so unwholesome, in consequence of the stagnant waters 

 and pestilential marshes, that the island has been named the grave of 

 Europeans. The Philippine Islands have a great many peat bogs. 

 Australia has much marshy ground along the coast, and immense 

 swamps have been seen inland. 



As for Africa, its interior is too little known to enable us to speak 

 with any certainty of its marshes ; but the southern part, according to 

 Barrow, has many and extensive swamps covered with reeds and saline 

 plants. Some of the rivers on the east are marshy at their embouchures, 

 which is also the case with the Quorra. Madagascar contains marshes, 

 in which the singular Ravenala ( Urania ipeclosa), a kind of palm, grows, 

 remarkable for the size and disposition of its leaves, which are similar 

 to those of the banana, and are employed by the natives as table-cloths, 

 napkins, plates, dishes, and spoons. 



America contains immense marshes. In the frigid zone of the New 

 World, as far as known, fog-enveloped marshes have been found. To 

 the westward, in Russian America, the laud lying between the coast 

 and the mountains is a slip of black swampy soil ; some of the marshy 

 grounds are on the slopes of the mountains and retain the water like a 

 sponge ; the verdure (being covered with moss of various kinds) gives 

 them the appearance of firm land, but in endeavouring to pass them 

 the traveller sinks up to the waist. On the opposite or east coast of 

 America we find Newfoundland intersected by marshes and morasses. 

 Lower Canada has neither marshes nor stagnant water. To the south 

 of the great lakes of North America, and as far south as Mexico, the 

 United States contain a great number of marshes, and some of them of 

 great extent. The low lands of Mexico also contain many swamps. 

 The former intendencia of Vera Cruz is principally occupied with 

 marshes and sands. South America contains a great abundance of 

 extensive marshes, as on the upper Apure, an affluent of the Orinoco ; 

 and the delta of the latter river is one vast swamp. The region which 

 extends between the Andes and the Pacific has little marshy ground, 

 if we except Chaco, where there are many swampy valleys ; but on the 

 other hand the immense plains which occupy the whole interior of 

 the continent, from the mountains of Caracas on the north to the 

 Straits of Magalhaens on the south, contain a great number of 

 extensive marshes. All the immense basin of the Amazon is covered 

 with swamps and wet land and marshy forests, many of which, how- 

 ever, at certain seasons, form the bed of the enlarged rivers. To the 

 south of the Campos Parexis, the provinces of Moxos and Chiquitos 

 contain extensive marshes ; in the latter particularly there is the great 

 lake or marsh of Xarayes. This marsh is temporary, however, being 

 dry a great part of the year, and then covered with the corn-flag 

 (Gladiolm) and other Iridete. In the province of Cordova are the 

 swamp of Los Porongos, the Mar-chiquito, &c. In La Plata there is 

 the great marsh of Ybera, formed by the infiltrations of the Parana. 

 At the north-west extremity of the Pampa of Buenos Ayres is the 

 great reedy marsh called Los Canaverales, and along the whole course 

 of the Rio Mendoza, and between that river and the foot of the 

 Cordilleras, there are extensive marshes. They also exist on the upper 

 part of Rio Negro. In short, we may say that all the immense region 

 of the Pampas, or plains of South America, contains marshes. In 

 ascending the coast we find the great island of Marajo at the embou- 

 chure of the Amazons, a considerable tract of which is a marsh, formed 

 in part by the deposit from the water of the river, and in part by th 



