ALDER. 191 



parts considerable ridges and deep furrows indicated that 

 the morass had been partially cultivated. 



Some conjectured that the forest had been felled, and 

 that the trees, being left unmoved, contributed to the 

 accumulation of the waters. This is probable, because 

 whenever the Britons were discomfited, they fled for 

 refuge to the fastnesses of woods, and miry forests ; from 

 whence they sallied forth, and fell upon their invaders. 

 Hence, it was determined that the woods and forests 

 should be destroyed; and the order was mercilessly obeyed. 

 Many were set on fire, others cut down, and forests thus 

 felled, by impeding the draining of water, often turned such 

 broad streams as flowed through them, into extensive 

 swamps ; vegetable earth, as already shown, gradually ac- 

 cumulated, yet soft and watery; and many ancient woods, 

 in consequence, with the stone huts of the natives, and the 

 ground which they cultivated, merged in wild swamps, beside 

 which, it may be, some aged alder stood like a sepulchral 

 column, the sole memorial of buried homes. 



