AND PEAT MOSSES OF SCOTLAND. 383 



where those unfortunate dissenters were discovered and shot, confirm the truth 

 of the traditions. 



The decrease of moisture which induced the death and waste of the mosses 

 must have been very gradual. Year by year its influence would begin to be 

 felt,— first, in those districts which have the smallest rain-fall, — last, in hilly 

 regions, and other places, where the rain-fall is great. Hence it is that we have 

 still the largest display of peat along our western and south-western borders, and 

 upon the moist hill tops and elevated valleys of the north and south of Scotland. 

 The same may be said of England ; and Ireland (which drinks most deeply of the 

 Atlantic rains) can still show a goodly quantity of growing peat. 



It has been said that the Scottish peat mosses have originally covered a much 

 wider area than they do now. In the east, as well as in the west, great mosses 

 once existed, which have now either disappeared or are fast disappearing. The 

 peat on the tops of the Lammermuirs, the Moorfoots, the Peeblesshire hills and 

 other hilly districts in the same region, is evidently the remains of a broad peaty 

 mantle, which at one time stretched down many of the hill sides, and was con- 

 tinuous with the mosses of lower levels. Segments of this old covering may still 

 be seen lying on some hill sides, and looking as if they had broken off and slipped 

 down from the wasting cap of peat on the top of the hill. The alluvium of the 

 same regions often shows alternations of sand and clay with peaty matter, borne 

 into its present position from the hill sides and upper parts of the valleys. 



I have often had occasion to notice, that of a peat-covered hill the least 

 ragged portion of the mantle will invariably face the direction whence come the 

 rainy winds. This is very well seen in the hilly districts of South Carrick and 

 Galloway. In that region, the hill-slopes looking to the south-west may have 

 a thick, continuous coating of peat, while the peat on the opposite side is seamed 

 with innumerable winding channels, as if it had been violently rent in pieces. 



All these appearances convince us that the climate of the country has become 

 less humid. We must look to the drainage works of the agriculturist, and con- 

 sider whether these are sufficient to account for this change. But after alio wing- 

 that much may be done by a good and extensive system of drainage to affect a 

 climate, we may, perhaps, doubt whether the changes which have rendered our 

 atmosphere less humid can be assigned exclusively to this cause. Such con- 

 siderations are not, strictly speaking, within the geologist's province. I may, 

 however, state in conclusion some of the reasons which have led me to suspect 

 the existence of some cosmical cause, apart altogether from the agency of man. 



Drainage operations, although carried on very generally throughout the 

 country, are yet not everywhere effective. Some districts are much better drained 

 than others ; and there are still portions of the country to which this important 

 work has not as yet been extended. It is only within recent years, indeed, that 

 the drainage of peat lands has met with the attention it merits. And yet almost 



VOL. XXIV. PART II. 5 L 



