PEAT MAKING. 



and this they did alternately till the pit was full. The 

 whole was covered over with heath to confine the 

 steam. Whether this is probable, I cannot say, but 

 some pits are shown which the vulgar say were used 

 in that manner." 



In Fingal occurs the following passage: "It was 

 on Cromla's shaggy side that Dorglas placed the 

 deer; the early fortune of the chase before the herdes 

 left the hill. A hundred youths collect the heath ; then 

 the heroes blow the fires ; three hundred chuse the 

 polished stone. The feast is smoking wide." 



In the Hebrides the fisherman strips the Heather 

 of its leaves and flowers and ties the stems into large 

 bundles which he lays across the stream and holds 

 down by stones, the tops of the Heather being always 

 turned toward the current. 



Peat Making 



Before railroad transportation brought coal (and 

 its price) within the reach of the average Highlander 

 he depended upon peat for his supply of fuel. Peat is 

 obtained from bogs or mosses, in which for number- 

 less generations have decayed those plants that live 

 in cool climates and moist soils. Chalmers, in his 

 "Caledonia," published in 1807, says : "It will scarcely 

 be credited that many bleak moors which now disfigure 

 the face of the country, and produce only barren 

 heath, were formerly clothed with woods that fur- 

 nished useful timber and excellent pasturage; yet is 

 the fact clearly proved by the positive evidence of 

 record." 



