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length, about a yard from their great roots, (unto which they did 
most evidently belong, both by their situation, and the sameness of 
the wood) with their tops commonly north-east ; though indeed the 
smaller trees lie almost every way across those, some above, some 
under ; a third part of all which are pitch trees, commonly called firs, 
some of which have been found of thirty yards length and above, and 
have been sold to make masts and keels of ships. Oaks have been 
found of twenty, thirty, and thirty-five yards long, yet wanting many 
yards at the small end : some of which have been sold for four, eight, 
ten, and fifteen pounds a piece ; which are as black as ebony, and 
very lasting and durable in any service that they are put unto. As 
for ashes, it is commonly observed of them, that their constituent 
parts are so dissolved, that they become as soft as earth, and are 
commonly cut in pieces by the workmen’s spades ; and, as soon as 
flung up into the open air, fall away into dust ; but all the rest, even 
the willows themselves, which are softer than ashes, preserve their 
substance and texture, he says, to this day. He adds, I have seen 
some pitch or fir trees, that, as they have laid all along, after that they 
were fallen, have struck up great branches from their sides, which 
have grown unto the thickness and height of considerable trees. 
Many of those trees, he observes, of all sorts, have been burnt ; 
but especially the pitch or fir trees ; some quite through, and some 
all on a side; some have been found chopped and squared, some 
bored through, other some half riven, with great wooden wedges and 
stones in them, and broken axe heads, somewhat like sacrificing 
axes in shape ; and all this in such places, and at such depths, as 
could never be opened from the destruction of this forest, until the 
time of the drainage. Near a great rock, in the parish of Hatfield, 
were found eight or nine coins, of some of the Roman emperors, but 
exceedingly consumed and defaced with time. It is very observable, 
he adds, that upon the confines of this low country, between Bir- 
mingham and Brumley, in Lincolnshire, are several great hills of 
