AND PEAT MOSSES OF SCOTLAND. 381 



III. — The Present Aspect of the Peat Mosses. 



A glance at the present aspect of our peat mosses will convince any geologist 

 that this formation has not only ceased to spread, but is in most cases rapidly 

 disappearing. The moisture which in former times afforded it nourishment and 

 support, has now become its chief enemy. Every shower of rain, every frost, 

 gives fresh impetus to the decay; and leaving altogether out of account the 

 operations of agriculture, we can yet have no doubt that natural causes alone 

 would, in time, suffice to strip the last vestige of black peat from hill and valley. 

 These remarks might be illustrated by examples drawn from any peaty district 

 of Scotland, did space permit, but a general description of the appearances pre- 

 sented by dead peat is all that can be attempted. 



The surface of peat which has ceased to grow is usually covered with short 

 scrubby heath and rusty grasses, but frequently in so sparse a manner, that every 

 here and there the black peaty mould peers through. Nay, in many cases the 

 decomposing peat lies exposed and bare, with not a tuft of heath or blade of grass 

 to be seen. Peat mosses of this description are not confined to any particular 

 locality or situation. They occur generally throughout the country, and may be 

 found on hill tops, on hill sides, and in valleys. 



The peat of a hill-top usually shows a most ragged and wasted aspect * In- 

 numerable winding gutters of variable breadth intersect it in all directions. 

 These widen as they approach the circumference of the peat towards the brow of 

 the hill, where, at their outlets, they are often yards across. When the hill- 

 slopes have retained any of their peaty covering, it is usually still more cut 

 up than that on the hill top. These natural channels or drains are due to the 

 wasting action of running water, assisted by winter's frosts. The peat is dead, 

 and, like the upraised coral reefs of the South Seas, wears rapidly away at the 

 touch of the atmospheric agents. Year by year, the little channels are eating 

 their way back into the heart of the peat, and the process of destruction has 

 often been carried so far as to have left merely a few irregular-shaped segments 

 of peat scattered here and there over the top of the hill. 



* Few regions exhibit the decay of hill-peat to better advantage than the Moorfoots and Peebles- 

 shire hills. The summits of the Moorfoots may be well described as a wide platform or table-land, 

 out of which valleys have been scooped by rivulets and streams. Standing on the shoulders of one 

 of the hills at the head of the Leithan Water, we see stretching out before us what appears to be a 

 wide-spread and undulating peaty plain. To the wanderer across these hill-tops, the deception is 

 often for some time complete, till of a sudden he finds himself on the brink of a green grassy bank, 

 which slopes steeply down to a brawling stream, and again rises to a corresponding height on the 

 other side. The peat stopping thus abruptly where the ground begins to descend, has the appear- 

 ance from below of a black wall running continuously along the brow of the hill. This is especially 

 conspicuous in the valleys of the Leithan and its tributaries, and also at the heads of the Luggate, 

 the Heriot, and the Gladhouse Waters. The higher grounds of the Border counties also show peat 

 in every stage of decay. The same appearances characterise the flat-topped hills of Carrick, which 

 overlook the broad undulating moors of Wigton and Kirkcudbright. 



