^{page 364 note *} Cybele Britannica, vol. ii. p. 409.Google Scholar

^{page 364 note †} Sinclair's, Stat. Acc. of Scotland, vol. xii. p. 451.Google Scholar

^{page 364 note ‡} Mr Winch, quoted in Cybele Britannica, loc. cit.

^{page 364 note §} Cybele Britannica, loc. cit.

^{page 365 note *} Cybele Britannica, loc. cit.

^{page 365 note †} Edin. Phil. Jour. vol. xvii. p. 53.Google Scholar See also Phil. Trans. vol. xxii. p. 980Google Scholar; and the Old and New Stat. Accs. Scot, passim.

^{page 365 note ‡} Edin. Phil. Jour. vol. iii. p. 100Google Scholar; Sinclair's, Stat. Acc. vol. vii. p. 451Google Scholar; Barry's Orkney Islands; New Stat. Acc., Orkneys, Sandwick.

^{page 365 note §} Sinclair's, Stat. Acc. vol. x. p. 373Google Scholar; vol. xiii. p. 321; Edin. Phil. Jour. vol. vii. p. 125.Google Scholar

^{page 365 note ║} The Caithness coast shows submerged peat with trees, at Lybster and Reiss (from information by my colleague Mr B. N. Peach); for notices of submarine forests and peat, see a Practical Treatise on Peat Moss, p. 150; New Stat. Acc. vol. i. pp. 16 and 243; Sinclair's, Stat, Acc. vol. xvi. p. 556Google Scholar; Trans. Royal Soc. Edin. vol. ix. p. 419Google Scholar. Along the shores of the Firth of Forth drowned peat occurs, as at Largo; also at several points on the Solway coast.

^{page 365 note ¶} Phil. Trans. vol. xxii. p. 980Google Scholar; vol. 1. p. 51; vol. lxxxix. p. 145; Jour. Geol. Soc. vol. vi. p. 96Google Scholar; Phil. Jour. April 1828.

^{page 365 note **} Jukes', Manual of Geology, 2d edit., p. 686.Google Scholar

^{page 365 note ††} Jour. Geol. Soc., vol. iii. p. 238.Google Scholar

^{page 366 note *} From information obtained in Norway, 1865.

^{page 367 note *} Memoirs of Geol. Survey.

^{page 367 note †} Vide Sinclair's Stat. Acc., and the New Stat. Acc. passim, and notices in various county histories, &c.

^{page 368 note *} Highland Society's Prize Essays, vol. ii. p. 19 (Old Series)Google Scholar; Rennie's Essays, p. 31; Sinclair's, Stat. Acc. vols. iv. p. 214Google Scholar; v. p. 131; and xv. p. 484; New Stat. Acc. Paisley and Carluke. Vide also for similar phenomena in English and Foreign peat mosses, Phil. Trans. vol. xxii. p. 980; Rennie's Essays, loc. cit.; Degner de Turfis, p. 81.

^{page 368 note †} Vide Trans. Royal Soc. Edin. vol. iii. p. 269.Google Scholar

^{page 369 note *} Essays, p. 69.

^{page 369 note †} It appears not unlikely that the fact of several mosses having yielded remains of undoubted Roman age, may not infrequently have weighed with local antiquarians in assigning to the same era certain relics of no marked character, which have occasionally been discovered under peat.

^{page 370 note *} Torfaeus wrote about 1690. He was a native of Iceland, and died in 1720.

^{page 370 note †} Solinus is supposed to have written about A.D. 240.

^{page 370 note ‡} If this had not been the case, he would surely have quoted a less ancient authority than Ptolemy for the site of the ancient forest. Vide Cosmographie and Description of Albion.

^{page 370 note §} Croniklis of Scotland, chap. xi.

^{page 370 note §} Bellenden's version of the passage is characteristic. He says, Isla is “full of metallis, gif thair wer ony crafty and industrius peple to win the samin;” but he quietly drops all allusion to the want of wood in the island.

^{page 370 note ¶} Caledonia, vol. i. p. 792, &c.Google Scholar

^{page 370 note **} Hist. of Scot. vol. ii. chap, ii., third edition, and the authorities there quoted and referred to.

^{page 371 note *} Caledonia, vol. i. p. 793.Google Scholar

^{page 371 note †} Vide Acts of Scottish Parliament. The more interesting acts referring to the state of the woods were passed as follows:—James I., Second Parliament, A.D. 1424; James II., Fourteenth Parliament, A.D. 1457; James IV., Sext Parliament, A.D. 1503; James V., Fourth Parliament, A.D. 1535; Mary, Sext Parliament, 1555; James VI., First Parliament, 1567, Sixth Parliament, 1579, Eleventh Parliament, 1587. It is curious to notice how, from the time of James I. the penalties imposed upon the destroyers of wood increase in severity. Pecuniary fines are succeeded in time by stocks, prison, or irons; the culprit is to be fed on bread and water during confinement, and to be scourged before parting from his jailers. The climax is reached in the following act, which became law in 1587:—“Whatsoever persone or persones wilfully destroyis and cuttis growand trees and cornes, sall be called therefore before the Justice or his deputes, at Justice Airs, or particular diettes, and punished therefore to the death, as thieves.”

^{page 372 note *} De Europa, c. 46.

^{page 372 note †} Sext Parliament, A.D. 1503.

^{page 373 note *} I have, however, observed flow-mosses on the flat col between two hills, and they are also common enough in some valleys, where we have no reason to suppose that they mark the site of lakes. The origin of “flows” in such situations is due to the presence of springs. “Grass and weed,” says Dr King, “grow rapidly at the outburst of these. In winter, these springs swell and loosen all the earth about them; the sward, consisting of the roots of grasses, is thus lifted up by the water. The sward grows thicker and thicker, till at last it forms a quaking bog.” In the same manner, “flows” are often extended beyond the limits of the lakes which they cover, by the outwelling of the imprisoned water during wet seasons.

^{page 375 note *} I have confined my remarks on this subject to the peat mosses of our own country, where the appearances presented may be explained, as stated above, by a change from continental to insular conditions. If, however, the alteration of climate referred to was also in great measure due to cosmical causes, the proofs are no doubt to be found in continental peat mosses. As I do not know these turbaries from personal observation, I am unable to say whether the greater proportion of their buried timber has fallen from natural causes or otherwise. It may be surmised, however, that marks of natural decay will probably occur most abundantly in the maritime regions.

^{page 376 note *} Vide Timber Trees, Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, p. 32.

^{page 376 note †} Mr Sainter, in a letter to my colleague, Mr A. H. Green, describes the Danes' Moss, a large peat bog near Macclesfield. In this moss, he says, “the Scotch fir is found at a depth of about 20 or 25 feet. A few feet above this lies the larch, and then in ascending order come the oak (Quercus Robur), birch, hazel, alder, and willow.” This moss occupies a depression.

^{page 378 note *} Essay on Peat, Highland Society's Prize Essays, vol. ii. p. 19 (Old Series).

^{page 378 note †} Idem, p. 20. Vide also, for examples of the same phenomena, Irish Bog Reports, vol. ii. p. 61; Transactions of the Geological Society (Second Series), vol. ii. p. 140.

^{page 379 note *} It must be remarked, however, that a large proportion of the trees here referred to consists of birch, the bark of which is usually obtained in a good state of preservation, although the wood itself may have entirely decayed.

^{page 379 note †} Sinclair's, Stat. Acc. vol. xv. p. 484.Google Scholar

^{page 381 note *} Few regions exhibit the decay of hill-peat to better advantage than the Moorfoots and Peeblesshire 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 appearance 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.