The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-01-09
BOGS OF THE GREEN ISLE.
SOMETHING a no UT THEIR GEOL0G 2
AND FOLK LORE.
The Difference Betweea q SWAMI ssa = Boa
The Benutifui Hog 0ak-The so-nes
OF the Recent Flood and Landslide


The DiGerepee between u SWAMP .ss . BOG
The Benuttfui Hog Oak-The Scenes
OF the Recent Flood and Landslide.
Prom the Chicago Times Herald.
The reports from Ireland to the effect that =
bog 10 moving down the course Of the Flesk
River. engulAng cottages { nd hamlets. Threaten
ing the town OF Rathmore. the ruini OF Holy
Cross Abbey and many othe! interesting re-
mains In the vicinity OF the Lakes OF Killarney,
has brought to life the bid superstition con-
corning the nature Of boys and their myste.i-
aus DO yer OF destruction and concealment. The
sea gives up It's dead moro readily. There are
no tides In that solidifying mass. whose per-
meatlng waters ars blacker than the Styx.
But a bog can no more move from Its eternal
m oorinRs than can Lake Michigan. II can
overflow, indeed, as IAN the swan Do OF the Kan
kakes, and food wide districts. The differ
enco would be that In the swamps the sodden
vegetation would remain anchored. while In
the bog the sponRy surface peat becomes loos-
ened and goes down with the food that moves
silently and unseen beneath. What wonder.
then. II the simple peasantry. watching the In
sidious advance OF apparently solid peat. should
revive the legend OF the days when fairies put
their shoulders under tho bog and moved IL to
. distant place. In reality the turf wool has
no density. but 10 compacted by pressure from
behind, and II IL drained dry because of its
porous. nonputr-seent substance.
When the food subsidies the bog will be
found in its ancient anchorage. ABBY. brown
worthless peat will be scattered before doors
far ~distant; some turf cutters cottsges tim
bored with bog oak and matched with the
spaGnum. will have disappeared. and perhaps
with them some hapleus families. But the
stone-built towns will get an antisept.c wash.
ana the ruins sustain no more damaue than m
purifying inundation. such as they have en-
countered many times since saints laid the
Ing. There Will not even be slime upon the
posits OF alluyia along tho river courses, water
soaked and ehoked with docaying. vegetation
that gives on = miasmatic gas. But boys are an:
cient lakes. often fed by springs underneath, and
feeding In their turn swift rivers. The water
\. n"ver stsgnAnt. The tart Is an accumuia.
ten twenty 10 forty feet In depth. This veeeta-
ton has Undergone a peculiar chang. under q
ton. As might DO well undsrssood. osainsry
aquatic Slalts. of, much succulept LEAKAGE
would decay. The plant peculiar to the bog is
between the woody fibre OF Spanish moss and
the porou. oompsctness Of sponge. Given =
OF true water plants. and spugnum fiourishes: q
parasite absorbing the other plants. sending out
new ones OF It's own.s nrealing above and solidi-
lying below, and gradually replacing the water
with .compacted fibre. on top each years
growth Is dry. brown and crumbling. but eight
feet below IL is often AS hard. black. and valu-
able for fuel as coal. Underneath the strata Is
water to an unknown depth. and there is water
ooxinr up to tho surface through the porous
mass, seemingly unsafe. but In reality only
treacherous In the boz holes left by the peat
cutter. where nature has not had time TO heal
The water nows away In great rivers from
all sides, for the boys are all extensive and
oltlets become obstructed there is nm overflow.
causing Hoods when the matted brown spaG-
mum moves on, the surface. as the trades move
Only this surface moss can float. as each sue.
cessive year deposits it's strata and constantly
increases in density. with pressure from above
becomes imbeddded and mummi-ed. Much OF
the surface must at QUO time ha 20 been COW
cred with forest trees. AS trunks OF numerous
useful for the builder. but black as ebony and
Such is the SsSutifui bog oak. appearing Ike
charcoal. but capable OF being carved into
fur Rars, and IrI.S In 3hs museum q
Of deer. !. ,humsn body With bro ss hair 'H.' a tub
but converted INTO a chalk-like substance
DID nrmor and rnamsnts, metal caskots, spear
s ssgals'' d sEa many aTs SS. ..U sainss Of use In Leg,
Illuminated; nanuscripts In Dramatically sealed
brace OF the boys viii ne, or he known. hut
certain II Is that in tho centuries when the ISL
M Nhs oNcrG un Nv tue lane tanu tnen by the
Anglo-N ornian bcgs were often the depository
or sacred and ancestral relics.
The ASPECT Of = bog is totally, unlike that Of
. swamp, which teens with luxuriant and
and covered with hummocks OF spsenum
a field OF stubbls in winter. BEFORE the day OF
ratiroad, travel from Dublin TO shannon Har-
Dor and SO on TO Limerick used 10 be by, way
OF the canal, and on top OF this, TO be above
the reach OF floods. cabins weIe built. rear
Ing their roofs only a few feet above the bank.
from IIR IIAp nnlI An.A- - I.I-
guished. A pit was dug whore q cabin was
wanted, ana bog oak timbers driven In at the
roof thatched with spagnum. which compacts
and never decays. A hole was left for the es-
cape OF smoke. II was astonishing to see the
these huts, their healthfulnsss explained by
the Sntlseptic G%uaIities OF the blgs;
this great bog OF Allen that extends with
large-areas OF arabic land Included from Xii
dare 10 East Meath. and from Dublin ." Xii
iarney ana ths shannon. Some mysterious
subterranean connection is established by the
rise Il rivers nowinS IN three directions from
OF Fin ana the Fenians. that sunny, bright
emlnenee where Tho mis,s never came up
the Slany and the Boyne. all rlso
on that slope. aat seventv-iye miles ,-est tho
pleasant waters Of the River Lee and the small
streams that tumble their lovely cascades into
tho lakes or learning. and drop to silence into
Gougano Barra. are fed by that same mysteri-
Limeriok and crops out again In the region OF
the Flosk, a brown. sullen expanse dropped In
tho fAlryland OF Kerry.
Great bog OF Allen, swallow down
That odious heap called PhIIlipstown;
Aud if thy NAV can swallow moro
Pray take. and welcome. Tulianore,
Sang tn. blind minstrel In days gone by, when
the canal was the highway and thes. two vii
lagos held precurious stations on the embank-
ment., the only stopping places from Dublin
ito Limerick and back"
The extent of tho boys may DO understood
by the estimate that Of 20. 600. 900 acres OF
Il mi a ID n = 1nUs N NIa IA. nnA $50.
OF the Emerald Isle is black peat. More ti.an
half OF this II on the mountains, perched at
every elevation and AT every possible angle,
some of II eemingly standing on end, like
tho domains, or kiplinE's East IL dia rAiah. Tho
bog OF Tough Neagh, in Antrim, IL the only
other considerable one In the lowlands. Patches
OF black, peat may be seen below the upper TIKI
Der In me mountains Of .COnnaught. on the
peak: about Bantry Bay. along sligo and Done
gal. and even on the very bleak oiiifs" Of the
Isles. or Arrah, those marine sentinals thai
watch over the little cargo boats and Usher