SHRINKAGE FISSURES RECENT DEPOSITS. 11 



dry year, and the year the king came over was very 

 wet. I was then a small boy, and lived near the place. 

 It happened in June, on a Friday during dinner- 

 hour. The cows saw it first, for they all began 

 running away from the bog, and we thought it was 

 the flies were at them ; but then the barrows and 

 slanes began to tumble about, and the bog to move 

 up and down like the waves of the lake. It moved 

 as far as the small cabin on the bog that day, but on 

 the following Monday it again moved across the road 

 up the side of the gravel ridge (Esker) ; it tore up the 

 marl with it, and carried it along. We considered 

 that it was such a dry year that the lough on the 

 east side of the bog got under it, down through the 

 cracks, and floated it away. People from all parts 

 came to set up tents in the demesne to see it move, 

 but it never stirred since." In this case it would 

 appear as if it was the turf-cutters who by their opera- 

 tions had finally given occasion to the bog to move. 

 But usually in the case of moving bogs, the connec- 

 tion between the peat and the gravel or marl is cut 

 away by the action of a river or stream flowing at 

 a lower level, the bed of the bog having a slight 

 incline towards it; but once the mass begins to move, 

 its own weight may force a portion of it on to a 

 much higher level, as in the case of the Esker, near 

 Clara. 

 Movements somewhat similar to that now men- 



