272 GERMANT. 



prevent their sinking in the mud, or they wear " nmd-shoes," similar in shape to 

 the Canadian snow-shoes. Even animals are made to wear similar contrivances. 

 AVhen Germanicus crossed this morass with his legions he caused pontes lonrji to 

 be constructed, which have been traced, as far as the Steinhuder Meer, where he 

 is supposed to have fought the battle of Idistavisus against Hermann. These 

 Eoman ■pontes longi resembled in every respect an American plank road. They 

 were made of oak, about 10 feet wide, and bordered by ditches. A layer of peat 

 3 feet thick now covers these Roman roads, which were far more solid than the 

 " batten " laid down by the present inhabitants of the country. 



There are no bog lands to the east of the Ems which equal the Morass of 

 Bour.tange. Still the swampy tracts of the Saterland and Arenberg cover areas far 

 larger than those of several small principalities. The Hamme, which joins the 

 Wiimme above Vegesack, to the east of the "Weser, traverses a marshy tract which 

 in many respects is one of the most remarkable in Europe, for the spongy soil, 

 though cultivated in many places, still floats upon the surface of the water. When 

 the snow melts, and the Hamme and the numerous swamps in its basin become 

 overcharo-ed with water, much of the lowlands of Waakhusen and St. Jorgen is 

 actually uplifted by the flood. The remainder, being firmly attached to the 

 bottom of the morass, is inundated, sometimes to a height of 10 feet. Occasionally 

 the inhabitants are forced to fly from their dwellings erected on the most elevated 

 sites afl'orded by the " solid land," and seek refuge on their " floating fields." After 

 havino- been cultivated for a number of years the spongy soil loses its power of float- 

 ing, and definitely settles down upon the bottom — an event very much regretted. 

 Hio-h winds are an enemy much dreaded, by the cultivators of floating islands ; for 

 they uproot trees, and. sometimes drift the land upon which they grow far out into 

 the swamp. In winter the cultivator of this curious country is menaced by other 

 dangers. Land and water then are compacted into one mass, and, when the thaw 

 sets in, large fragments are sometimes torn from the bank and float away. A 

 hole filled with water thus remains behind. Again, in the middle of winter, 

 the frozen morass sometimes cracks with a loud explosion. The fissure then 

 formed runs across fields, houses, and dykes, and is sometimes wide enough to be 

 used as a navigable canal. 



The mode of cultivation until recently pursued in the bogs of Northern 

 Germany was a very barbarous one. Having superficially drained a bit of 

 land and dug it up, the peasant set fire to the peat, which burned down to a depth 

 of 30 inches, the acrid smoke rising to a great height. He then sowed buckwheat 

 in the ashes for six years consecutively, and later on oats or rye. This exhausted 

 the soil, which was then allowed to lie fallow for thirty years. The consequences 

 of this burning of the peat made themselves felt over a vast expanse. The 

 smoke, or moorrauch, rose to a height sometimes of 10,000 feet, and, spreading out 

 in the form of a cloud, was carried by the wind to an enormous distance. In 

 May, 1857, a north-westerly wind drifted it as far as Vienna and Cracow, a distance 

 of 560 miles, and in July, 1863, it was even traced to Morges, on the banks of the 

 Lake of Geneva. It has been calculated that 30,000 acres of peat were fired 



