316 DR. ANGUS SMITH ON PEAT. 



tion in the waters, and occasioned the growth of watery 

 mosses. 



"That some bogs may have been formed from such 

 obstructions (as Hatfield Moss in Yorkshire) I do not deny, 

 but that the bogs in this part of the country did not origi- 

 nate from such a cause is evident from the fact that trees 

 or branches of trees are very rarely found in the interior of 

 our deep and extensive bogs, but are always met with on 

 the bog-edges, and on the edges of gravel hills or islands 

 in the bog, lying horizontally and in no particular direc- 

 tion, frequently crossing each other, either attached to 

 their roots or broken off; in this latter case, the stumps 

 usually stand upright in the place where they grew, some- 

 times having six or eight feet of bog above them, and 

 three, four, five feet, or rarely more below their roots. 



" Trees are still to be found growing on the bog-edges, 

 and in the valleys in the bog where the rivers flow. Thus, 

 in the vale of the stream running from Lullymore by Lul- 

 lybeg to Cuthaling (in Lullymore Bog), oak, alder, aspen, 

 birch, willow, whitethorn, and holly trees are now grow- 

 ing; but I did not observe any fir trees, though they are 

 found in the bog. 



" It is probable that most people who have hitherto 

 written on bogs, having merely examined the composition 

 of the mass of bog near the edge (the interior being 

 scarcely accessible), may have concluded that trees and 

 branches of trees were as thickly scattered beneath the 

 surface throughout the bog as in the part near the edge 

 which had been examined. 



"It is to be understood that I do not mean to apply the 

 foregoing observations to the probable formation of bog 

 generally, but merely to this division of the Bog-district, 

 No. i, which I have had an opportunity of minutely ob- 

 serving." 



