VOL. LXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 305 



the bottom.* The surface of the flow was, at different places, between 50 and 

 80 feet higher than the fine fertile plain, between it and the river Esk. About 

 the middle of the flow were the deepest quags, and there the moss was elevated 

 higher above the plain, than in any part of the neighbourhood. From this, to 

 the farm called the Gap, upon the plain there was a broad gully, though not very 

 deep, through which a brook used to run. The moss, being quite overcharged 

 with the flood, burst at these quags, about 1 1 o'clock at night, and finding a 

 descent at hand, poured its contents through the gully into the plain. It sur- 

 prized the inhabitants of 12 towns in their beds.-|- Nobody was lost, but many 

 of the people saved their lives with great difficulty. Next morning, 35 families 

 were found dispossessed, with the loss of most of their corn and some cattle.:}: 

 Some of the houses were near totally covered, and others of them he saw stand- 

 ing in the moss, up to the thatch, the side walls being about 8 feet high. 



In the morning, above 200 acres were entirely overwhelmed; and this body 

 of moss and water, which was of such a consistency, as to move freely, con- 

 tinued to spread itself on all hands for several days. It was come to a stop, when 

 Mr. W. saw it, and had covered 303 acres, as he was informed by a gentleman, 

 who had looked over the plans of the grounds, with Mr. Graham the proprietor : 

 but every fall of rain sets it again in motion, and it has now overspread above 

 400 acres. At the farthest part it had run within a musket shot of the post 

 road leading from Moffat to Carlisle, when he saw it, but it is since flowed 

 over the road, and reached the Esk. This river, which was one of the clearest 

 in the world, is now rendered black as ink, by the mixture of the moss, and no 

 salmon has since entered into it. A farmer also told him, that on removing the 

 moss, to get at a well which it had covered, they found all the earth-worms 

 lying dead on the surface of the ground. The land that is covered was all in- 

 closed with hedges, bore excellent crops of wheat and turnips, and rented from 

 1 1 to 14 shillings, besides the taxes and tythes, which amounted to 4 shillings 

 per acre. 



• The surface was always so much of a quagmire, that in most places it was hardly safe for any 

 thing heavier than a sportsman to venture on it, even in the driest summers. A great number of 

 Scotchmen, in the army commanded by Oliver Sinclair, in the time of Henry 8th, lost their lives in 

 it; and it is said that some people digging peats on it, met with the skeleton of a trooper and his horse 

 in complete armour, not many years ago. — Orig. 



+ Those who were nearest the place of bursting were alarmed with the unusual noise it made ; others 

 not tiU it had entered their houses, or even, as was the case with some, not till they found it in their 

 beds. — Orig. 



X The case of a cow seems singular enough to deserve a particular mention. She was the only one 

 of 8 in the same cow-house, that was saved, after having stood 6() hours up to the neck in mud and 

 water. When she was got out, she did not refuse to eat, but water she would not taste, nor could 

 even look at, without showing manifest signs of horror. She is now reconciled to it, and likely to 

 recover. — Orig. 



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