THE TRAVELS OF PETER MUNDY IN DORSET. 47 



Other rough peeces as they were hevven out of the Rocke, 

 were tumbled downe to bee squared belowe, The Rocke or 

 quarry begininge alofte within halfe a Yard of the Surface of 

 the earth which is of a reasonable good Mould. 



"The Island, for soe it is also called, affoards noe fewell of 

 Wood, there being very few trees'or bushes on it 1 . Perchance 

 by industrey more might bee made to growe in it. But I 

 rather thinck the Earth is naturally not soe apte to produce 

 them, It beinge high, drye, a shallow mould, and somewhat 

 stoney in most places. With the loose stones they make their 

 hedges or partitions by only pileing them one upon the other 

 (beinge flatt), which resemble Park walls 2 . It yieldeth good 

 store of Corne, grasse and some hey, store of Cattle, especially 

 sheepe, some excellent plaines and levell ground. 



" For Fewell they use Cowdung, kneaded and tempred 

 with short strawe or strawe dust, which they make into flatt 

 Cakes, and Clapping them on the side of their stoney walls, 

 they become dry and hard, and soe they use them when they 



pushed it through a hole made near the rim of one of the hind wheels till 

 the end caught against some part of the cart underneath and stopped the 

 rotation of the wheel, making a very effective brake. I do not remember 

 the use of a slipper for this purpose. These massive carts impressed us a 

 good deal, as we never enjoyed meeting them on the hill when driving. 

 The road was narrow and also rough and full of ruts, and thqy swayed 

 about in an uncertain manner, whilst in parts there was only a very low 

 wall of loose stones or even a mud bank between us and a precipitous slope 

 ending in a pile of broken rocks. Later on traction engines were used, 

 but the greater part of the stone went down in wagons on a little steep 

 railway, the full wagons pulling up the empty ones. [N.M.R.] 



1 Except round Pennsylvania Castle, there are still only a few 

 scattered trees on Portland. 



2 Stone hedges are still a notable feature in the landscape of the 

 district. 



NOTE BY N.M.R. 



Even the field gates were until recently, made, like the hedges, of piled 

 flat stones, which had to be taken down and rebuilt each time anything 

 went through ! This method will hardly stand the present labourer's 

 wages ! 



