1 91 5' STKiyKOX. — The Post-Glacial Levels of Lough Neagh. 9 



water was remarkably shallow near the shore, so that a 

 person can wade out for many yards, there being a gently 

 shelving bank for some distance, and then a sudden precipi- 

 tous drop from three or six feet to a depth of from eleven 

 to sixteen feet. The shore population call this " the edge 

 of the gut," and its margin can be traced through the water 

 in summer or autumn by the fringe of Potamogetons which 

 find on it a suitable habitat. At one place a boat can be 

 rowed along this edge with two feet of water at one side, 

 and nine feet at the other. The formation is the Boulder 

 Clay. It is not possible that the undercurrents in stormy 

 weather could do this, and the edge is too deep to have 

 been scraped out by the ice of any recorded frost. This 

 second margin is more or less distinct all round the south- 

 east, south, and western shores, and is, in some instances, 

 at a considerable distance from the present shore. In the 

 opinion of the writer, this was a former escarpment, or shore- 

 line, worn away when Lough Neagh was at least 30 feet 

 lower than at present, and when some 20,000 acres at the 

 south margin was dry land, covered with waving woods. 

 The present Derryinver at the mouth of the Upper Bann, 

 represents the Tuach Tubhear mentioned in the Book of 

 Leccan, to which the probable overflow extended. The for- 

 mation of the surface of submerged escarpment bears out 

 this idea. It is studded in many places with large root- 

 stumps in situ, and the fallen trunks of oak and fir trees, 

 and a thick stratum of peat. In the turf bogs which border 

 Lough Neagh, fir and oak roots of very large size are also 

 found far below the present mean level of the lough." 



Canon Lett seems to infer, though he does not state, 

 that this submerged shoreline is absent from the northern 

 shore of the lake, which if so, would point to the tilting 

 of the bed of the lake, as a possible explanation of the 

 submergence of its southern shoreline. It would be most 

 interesting, however, if Mr. Wright would give his opinion 

 on the matter, and also whether he considers this submerged 

 escarpment or shoreline contemporaneous with the "25- 

 feet " raised beach. 



Belfast. 



