40 



The Plant World. 



All of these antiquarian bog finds are within easy access of the 

 sea, varying in depth beneath the surface in the Thorsbjerg 

 bog ten to fourteen feet; in the Nydam five to seven feet; in 

 the Vimose four to five feet. 



The Thorsbjerg Bog is situated south of Flensborg in 

 southern Jutland. Among the objects found were fragments of 

 swords (all double-edged), the hilts of all with one exception of 

 wood inlaid with bronze and silver, with scabbards of wood and 

 metal mountings. There were found a number of arrow shafts; 

 remnants of shields; axes whose blades were much decomposed 

 by rust with thirty good handles of ash and beechwood; many 

 broken pieces of gold rings; a mass of beads; discs of amber; 

 a variety of utensils and tools for domestic use, such as bowls 

 of wood and clay, spoons, jugs, knives; trousers of woven woolen 

 cloth; woolen shirts or blouses; horse head-gear of leather; 

 flat, round, wooden shields made of planed boards of different 

 widths; remains of leather shoes; rake of wood with teeth 

 nine inches long; leather sandal in one piece and shield boss 

 with silver top. In the Nydam Bog in 1863, a boat was discov- 

 ered with Roman coins. The Roman coins enable us to fix the 

 date of the objects as about 250 to 300 A. D. The oak boat 

 found, was seventy-five feet long, ten feet six inches wide, held 

 fourteen benches and was rowed with twenty-eight oars, the 

 average length of which was twelve feet. By its side the rud- 

 der was found, ten feet long. The boat was clinch built, that 

 is, the planks were fastened together by large iron bolts with 

 round heads outside and clinch plates on the inside, five and 

 one-half inches from each other. The boat was caulked with 

 woolen stuff and a pitchy substance. The boards were joined 

 to the frame with bast ropes. Another boat of red pine was 

 discovered near by in the same bog. 



In studying the flora of the higher mountains in eastern 

 North America, the .writer has discovered peat deposits of 

 greater or less extent on Roan Mountain in North Carolina, on 

 Slide Mountain in the Catskills, on Mt. Marcy (Mt. Tahawus) 

 in the Adirondacks, on Mt. Mansfield in Vermont, on Mt. Wash- 

 ington in New Hampshire, on Mt. Katahdin in Maine, on Sierra 

 del Ajusco (11,000 feet) in Mexico. The deposits of peat on 

 most of the mountain summits named are comparatively small 

 and limited in amount. The deposits on Sierra del Ajusco in 



