e) Forest swamps are the most numerous, quite often they stretch for tens of miles. The thickness of the upper moss layer does not exceed 4-8 tops. Passability depends on the time of year: in spring the water stands on top of them; Among the mountains, the surface of the vast majority is dry; when walking, water is squeezed out of the mosses. In general, the hunting will pass everywhere, and the cavalry will, although walking through such swamps is tiring: your foot gets stuck up to the ankle, and sometimes even higher, in the elastic moss mass. Deciduous and, in part, grassy plants grow on soils very rich in water; quite often among them there are swampy paths; after heavy, prolonged rains, trees seem to grow in swamps. But this water subsides relatively quickly, most of the swampy channels dry up, although the soil still remains damp; m$500, where the amount of peat is significant, there are areas impassable for cavalry during the tseflogo lft.
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6) Open, grassy swamps usually have the appearance of long, narrow (no wider than one mile) hollows flowing into rivers; Sometimes such hollows, abutting sandy ridges, look like closed pools. Their depth is rarely more than 1-1'/" arsh., water on top of the torea!/+-!/" arsh., layer of torea 1/"-*/4 arsh., under the torea there is hard sand. These swamps, sometimes hummocky, are overgrown with sedges and reeds; if the torea layer has reached significant thickness, bushes, low-growing pines and birches appear on their surface. For infantry, swamps of this type are not particularly difficult, but the cavalry is not able to cross them.
A very special type of open swamp is the so-called “Gallo”. Their shape and size are very diverse; the depth is sometimes greater than 1 fathom; the peat layer reaches 2-21|» arsh. power. More
— 140 deep overgrown with reeds, shallower sedges and bushes. With a significant thickness of the torey layer, low-growing spruce and birch trees grow on the surface of the swamps. Apparently, the “Gallo” were formed from lakes that once existed. Among the fish, most of them are accessible to pedestrians, but in the spring and after heavy rains, even heavy pike hunters will not get through them. The swamps are distributed unevenly across the surface of the region: the largest number of them, and the most serious ones, are located in the north of the region, near the borders of the Minsk province.
In general, it should be noted that the idea of Poland as a country completely covered with impenetrable swamps is currently completely erroneous. It is far from being as obstructive as is commonly thought. Roads cross the country in all directions. Pi$hota can hit almost everywhere and especially in the southern part of the area.
In particular, in the southern part of the region there is currently not much of the entire area under swamps.
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1) “Gaul” swamp, on both sides of the highway, in ver. 2. east of Cape Korostysheva (2 ver. length, 1'/" width).
2) “Gally” swamp in the upper reaches of the river. 'Rotten to 1'/» sq. verst.
3) How many swamps are in Goroshkovskaya and Fasovskaya volosts (no more than 1'/" sq. ver. each), of which the most significant lie in the forests of the merchant Muravyov
4) the “Savichno” swamp in the north-western part of the Serbian volost (length 2, width 1'/" ver., overgrown with mixed forest).
5) how many swamps (from 1 to 5 sq. ver.) in the Barashevskaya and Ushomirskaya volosts, of which the most significant (up to 5 sq. ver.) is the Solonoe swamp near the village of Yablonets (Barashevskaya volost); All these swamps, no more than 3-4 feet deep, are accessible to pedestrians, and some to horsemen.
6) several swamps in the north of Malinskaya volost (mainly to the north and north-west of the village of Meleni), from 1 to 3 square meters. verst; These swamps are boggy, hummocky overgrown with small grass.
7) open swamp “Gallo” (in the north of Borodnyanskaya volost) with a length of about 5, a width of up to 1’[› ver., very inaccessible.
Northern part of the area: area to the north of the river. The snake is richer in swamps, but the latter are concentrated mainly to the west of the Ovruch meridian. To the east of the post-day swamp they are shallow and occupy about 6-17° of the entire surface. In the very north, on the borders with the Minsk province, they are more serious, especially open swamps, of which the most important are: 1) “Michnaya Taraban” length 5 and width 4 versts and 2) to the east of the village. Vystupovichi (length 8, width 6 versts); the latter is so deep that it is passable only in winter.