226 



SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



SECTION X. 



Lakes, Lochs, and Loughs* 



1. Introductory Remarks* 



THESE terms are synonymous, or rather, perhaps, may be re. 

 garded by the etymologist as universal ; for the lough of Ireland is 

 the loch of Scotland, and both are the lake of England ; each term 

 being derived from the Latin locus t or the Greek Aaxxo; , of simi- 

 lar import, and varied in its orthography and pronunciation by a 

 mere provincial distinction. 



Lakes or loughs have a very close connexion with bogs, as these last 

 have with moors or mosses: a bog or moss being Iktle more than a 

 lake loaded with vegetable matter, usually of aquatic origin *. This 

 connexion is well pointed out by Mr. W. King in the following ar. 

 tide, chiefly devoted to the toughs of Ireland ; and which we take 

 from the Philosophical Transactions. 



As to the origin of bogs, it is to be observed, that there are 

 few places in our northern world but have been noted for 

 them, as well as Ireland ; every barbarous ill-inhabited country 

 lias them. I take the loca palustria, or paludes, to be the very 

 same we call bogs, the ancient Gauls, Germans, and Britons, 

 retiring, when beaten, to the paludes, is just what we have ex- 

 perienced in the Irish, and we shall find those places in Italy that 

 were barbarous, such as Liguria, were infested with tltem, so that 

 the true cause of them seems to be the want of industry. To show 

 this, we are to consider, that Ireland abounds in springs ; that tlu->e 

 springs are mostly dry in the summer, and the grass and weeds 

 grow thick about those places. In the winter they ^well and run, 

 and soften and loosen all the earth about them. Now that swerd 

 or surface of the earth, which consists of the roots of grass, being 

 lifted up and made fuzzy or spongy by the water in the winter, is 

 dried in the spring, and does not fall together, but wither in a tuft, 

 and new grass spring through it, which the next winter is again 

 lifted up; and thus the spring is still more and more stopped, and 

 the swerd grows thicker and thicker, till at first it makes what is 



* For bofs, mosses, and the production of peat, sec chap . xxvi, of the pie- 

 sent part of our work. 



