C 545 ] 
“ earth it would bend like a twig. It confids of 
“ oblique fibres, and here and there fome knots 
“ like the roots of a great tree. A carpenter, who 
“ was a judge of wood, thought it to be the root 
“ of a walnut-tree grown black with age. It was 
<c not eafily to be poliffied, too brittle to be ufed 
“ in cabinet work, and was full of crevices. This 
tc dratum is found fome yards under the earth, in a 
" mountain fo high and perpendicular, that thofe 
“ only who have been accudomed to climb fucli 
“ precipices can venture to dig for it. There is not 
the lead; appearance, that trees ever grew where this 
“ foffil is found, notwithfianding this author fup- 
tc pofes them to be roots of trees turned black, by a 
“ fubterraneous vitriolic juice. The dud of this dra- 
<c turn is accounted, by the Icelanders, an excellent 
<c prefervative of cloaths from moths and worms.” 
Horrebow * fays, <c it is an extraordinary fort of 
<c wood, which they call fortebrand, or black brand* 
very hard, heavy, and black like ebony. It is 
M found deep in the ground, in broad, thin, and 
“ pretty large pannels, or leaves, fit for a moderate 
<c fized table. It is generally wavy, undulated ; and 
“ is always found between the rocks, or great dones, 
“ wedged, as it were, clofe in.” He was doubtful,, 
whether it were wood, or a petrification ; but in- 
clined to the former opinion, becaufe it could be 
planed and managed like wood. 
The fame fort of foffil, according to Wormius f, 
<c is found in the illands of Faro. It does not eafily 
* Pa g e 33- 
t Mufseum YVormianum, p. 31. cap. 13, de Bitumine. 
take 
