424 ' PREHISTORIC EUROPE. 



trees which occur at the base of our deepest inland bogs, while 

 the trees that are dug up at higher levels in the same bogs may- 

 belong to approximately the same date as the forest-bed which 

 overlies the Carse-clays. But we may reserve consideration of 

 this point for the present. Its general bearing upon the ques- 

 tion of postglacial climate will be pointed out when we come to 

 sum up the evidence later on. 



Before leaving the subject of the buried forests of Scotland, 

 I may mention that, while the trees are often found with their 

 heads pointing in all directions, they perhaps more commonly 

 all lie one way — the direction taken corresponding with that of 

 the prevailing wind of the neighbourhood. Marks of fire are 

 said to have been seen upon some of the fallen trees underneath 

 peat, but I have never noticed anything of the kind myself. 

 The stumps and logs are frequently black, decayed, and crum- 

 bling, and this appearance, perhaps, has been mistaken for 

 charred wood. Now and again, what are supposed to be marks 

 of adze or hatchet have also been observed upon some of the 

 bog-oaks and other trees ; and the Eomans have usually been 

 credited with the destruction of the ancient forests. Thus, it 

 has been supposed that the great forest, the remains of which 

 lie buried under Kincardine Moss, was destroyed by the Eomans, 

 because : first, the trees looked sometimes as if they had been 

 cut by some sharp instrument ; second, " a large round vessel 

 of thin brass and curious workmanship " was discovered upon 

 the surface of the clay, buried under the peat ; 3d, some 

 axes and remains of a " corduroy road " were found in the 

 peat, as also a bridge over what had once been a rivulet. 

 None of the metallic remains, however, is Eoman in char- 

 acter. The " large round vessel of thin brass," which has been 

 described as a Eoman camp -kettle, is a bronze cauldron of 

 precisely the same character as similar objects which have been 

 met with in "finds" belonging to the Bronze Period. The 

 " corduroy road " may or may not be of Eoman age, but it did 

 not occur at the bottom of the peat-bog, and evidently belonged 

 to a later date than the great trees of the buried forest. It was 



