Moors, MosgEg, and bogs. 
235 
NJ VA I\ 3 j VfAVOOCtgj AkA^ iA 
Wad to a supposition, that some of the stormy 
S w of the North Sea, which in tliese last centuries 
“ay away such large tracts of land on its shores, 
carried away a soil resting on clay, and hare 
t' j '^?'®''cd the trees of these nioory islets. 
L^'able ^fosses are little more than lakes filled up with 
Jill , ® ‘^■atter, usually of aquatic origin. They arc to be 
>11 Ireland and Scotland, but also in every 
‘"iiitry, more especially when thinly peopled. It 
JttiOs,l '“Marked, that Ireland abounds'in springs, which 
liNantl summer ; and that grass and weeds grow 
ij** atid^ ihcse spots. In the winter these springs 
softening and loosening all the earth about 
J»ists of lliat swerd or surface of the eartli which 
roots of grass, being lifted up, and nrade 
•W.2 ipontr ■ - ° ■ 
‘h®’ Hi 
V.o 'Sf 
Ipongy by fbe water in the winter, is dried in the 
"'1 does not fall together, but withers in a tuft. 
.., ■1 . 5. .1 i, llftarl 
5 which springs through it is again lifted 
di’l^'atid *“'Wwing winter; and thus the spring is still 
C'ct, stopped, and the swerd grows thicker and 
’fe ' 111 h **■ '''■ngth it makes what is called a quaking 
C HHss f portion as it rises and becomes drier, and as 
t y ‘uftr w!',''* •inu other vegetables become more putrid, 
Ik,, -kiip.^ 1 fhe mud and slime of the water, it acquires 
and I 
•'i|! '^fetaKi becomes what is called a turf bog. When 
if is considered tliat the saline particles 
'iissni ‘ 
1i rot, 
carried away by the water, in which they 
V'"ind fl fi'^f o'iy Of sulphureous particles 
uuat on tlie water : it is thus tliat the turf 
‘uflammability. The highest mountains of 
M|. lligy ■well as the plains, covered with bogs, be- 
•V'ive ^oof>nd in springs, which, on account of a 
i °P“i»tion, are not cleared : they are thus over- 
l *>1 n “Ojro ^ ■' 
''‘k “off}' mosses also abound ; and the particular 
S * hogs, is remarkable on tliis account, 
\ f'Hi j of its threads, before it is decayed, consti- 
\tj So .o^i^uce of the light .spongy turf, which thus 
^ijte, ■ '”Ogl> as not to yield to the spade. This curious 
Ntih "Qt I 'iT® ^orth of Ireland, is caUed old wives tow, 
turf hardens by degrees, but 
^PloyL^“®u broken, and at length becomes tiro red 
