30 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



thirteen hundred acres, had a comparatively tough 

 surface, or covering, but was very soft beneath, and 

 vibrated very much when trod upon. So dangerous 

 was its surface, that a number of the army of Sinclair, 

 in the time of Henry VIII., were lost in it, more 

 especially those who were on horseback; and it is said 

 that the skeleton of a trooper and his horse, and the 

 armour of the rider, were found, not long before the 

 disruption of the moss. The Solway Moss stretched 

 along an eminence, varying in height from fifty to 

 eighty feet above the fertile plain which lay between 

 it and the river Esk. The centre of the surface was 

 comparatively flat, and consisted of very loose quag- 

 mires, interspersed with hummocks, or hassocks, of 

 coarse grass. Previous to the 16th of December 

 there had been very heavy rains, and the waters ac- 

 cumulated from their not being able to find vent. 

 The surface rose, till the pressure of the water became 

 too great for its strength, and then it burst with con- 

 siderable noise, and descended into the plain, carry- 

 ing ruin wherever it went. The time of the bursting 

 was about eleven at night on the 15th, and the inha- 

 bitants of the farms and hamlets that were nearest to 

 the moss were surprised in their beds by the unex- 

 pected visiter. 



In the rate of its progress the eruption of this 

 moss resembled those of the lavas of Etna and 

 Vesuvius, which, when in a half consolidated state, 

 creep over the plains, and cover them with ruin. 

 In consequence of the slowness of its motion no 

 lives were lost, but many of the people escaped 

 with difficulty. It is much more easy to ima- 

 gine than to describe the consternation into which 

 the poor inhabitants of Eskdale were thrown by 

 this event. They were a simple rustic people, not 

 a little superstitious, and, therefore, when the dark 

 and semi-fluid mass began to crawl along their plains, 



