AND PEAT MOSSES OF SCOTLAND. 369 



ancients as full of pools and marshes, we can have little doubt, although we 

 cannot of course pretend to point out their particular site. Those who have 

 traversed the central counties of Scotland, must have been struck with the num- 

 berless sheets of alluvium which everywhere meet the eye, betokening the pre- 

 sence, in former days, of so many little lakes. In Bleau's Atlas, many lochans 

 appear in spots that have long ago come under the dominion of the plough. 

 These, however, must form but a small proportion of the lakes which have been 

 drained since the time of the Romans. Such inconsiderable peaty lochans were 

 not likely to merit particular mention by the Roman legionary who had gazed 

 on the Alpine lakes, save as they became vexatious interruptions to his progress 

 through the country ; and surrounded, as many of them in all probability were, 

 with treacherous morasses, the words of the old historians appear to have been 

 descriptive enough of certain ample areas in the Scottish lowlands. 



It seems to have been the common practice of the Romans to cut down the 

 trees for some distance on either side a " way," to prevent surprise by the enemy. 

 Several old " ways" have been discovered on the clearing away of mosses, and 

 in their neighbourhood lie many trunks of trees bearing evidence of having fallen 

 by the hand of man. The presence of Roman axes and coins leaves us in no 

 doubt as to who the destroyers were. Rennie has remarked,* that " of all the 

 antiques found in mosses, by far the greatest part are Roman. No coins nor 

 utensils of any other nation, so far as I know, at least none that would lead us 

 back to a more remote period than the Roman invasion, have ever been dis-< 

 covered." He is therefore disposed to limit the origin of much, if not the greater 

 part, of our peat to the era of the Roman occupation. It need scarcely be added, 

 that since Rennie wrote, many relics of human art have been disinterred from 

 the peat mosses of Scotland and other countries, which archaeologists agree in 

 considering to be of much more ancient date than the Roman invasion. But it 

 is quite evident, that such imbedded relics do not enable us to fix the age of a 

 peat moss. They merely tell us, that the origin of the peat cannot date back 

 beyond a certain period, but may be ascribed to any subsequent time.f Hence, it 

 is impossible to say what amount of waste we are to set down to the credit of the 

 Romans. Some authors have, perhaps, been too ready to exaggerate the damage 

 done by the legions. The buried forests which can be proved to have fallen before 

 Roman axe and firebrand are not many after all ; but we may reasonably suppose 

 that these form only a portion of the woods which were cleared at that time. 



We have, however, what appears to be direct evidence, to show that some 

 regions had been divested of their growing timber before the Roman period ; for 



* Essays, p. 69. 



t It appears not unlikely that the fact of several mosses having yielded remains of undoubted 

 Roman age, may not infrequently have weighed with local antiquarians in assigning to the same era 

 certain relics of no marked character, which have occasionally been discovered under peat. 



