THE SCOTCH FIE, OE PIKE. 373 



Staffordshire, and Lancashire, where they grew in great 

 plentie, as it is reported, before Noah's floud, but then 

 being overflowed and overwhehned, have been since in the 

 mosses and waterie moorish grounds, very sound and fresh 

 until this day ; and so full of a resinous substance, that 

 they burne like a torch or linlce, and the inhabitants of 

 those countries do call it Flrre wood and Fire, woode unto 

 this day." 



Logs of Pine-wood intermixed with brick have also 

 been found imbedded in the soil, and serving as the 

 foundation of an ancient Roman road. Pine-woods are 

 scarcely to be found in England of so romantic a character 

 as the Highland forests ; but some of the wilds of Hamp- 

 shire and other English counties are covered with these 

 trees, self-sown and unpruned, and presenting on a less 

 grand scale many of the features described as characteristic 

 of the Scottish forests. 



That the Scotch Fir was formerly very abundant in Ire- 

 land is proved by the vast quantities of timber still found 

 in many of the extensive bogs for which that country is 

 noted. In the counties of Down, Fermanagh, Donegal, 

 Sligo, Antrim, &c. peat-cutters frequently arrive at layers 

 of these trees in different states of preservation; some are 

 much decayed, others are perfectly sound, and measure as 

 much as seventy feet in length. The depth at which 

 they lie beneath the surface varies from eight to fifteen 

 feet. In some instances they all lie with the top towards 

 the north, the base of the trunks and the upper parts of 

 the stumps, which still remain fixed in the peat, bearing 

 evident marks of fire. Some had attained a large size 

 before they fell, measuring from eight to twelve feet in 

 circumference ; in other instances, where the trunk has 

 decayed, the stumps are found imbedded in the peat, still 

 quite sound, the roots averaging more than a foot in 

 diameter, and occupying a space varying from thirty to 

 ninety feet in circumference, but never descending to any 

 considerable depth. A single stump frequently furnishes 



