90 
Europe : being, in several places, the only fuel which the inhabitants 
can obtain*. 
Ceesalpinus observes, that in (Eland, a peninsula in the Nether- 
lands, a black mud is obtained from the marshes, which, being made 
into clods, and dried, is used for the purpose of making up fires, 
being rendered a species of coalsf. 
Jonas Arngrim, who wrote in 1592, says, that the peat which is 
dug for fuel in Iceland, is of two kinds ; the one, which is found 
growing immediately under the surface of the earth, he observes, is 
light and spongy ; whilst the other, which is much deeper in the 
gro\md, and is dug up from the pits, is more heavy and denser. 
(iuado§ says, that in West Friesland the earth is fatty and 
bituminous ; and that, being dried in the wind, it serves for fuel in- 
stead of wood; but is very different from the coal of Namur, Liege, 
Hainault, &c. 
Libavius 1| says, the inhabitants of the lower parts of Germany 
employ for fuel that which they term darry and dorfen, which is, he 
says, a mass of roots, blended with a bituminous earth. 
Schoockius, who wrote expressly on peat in 1658^, and does not 
admit its vegetable origin, thinks that Libavius should rather have 
said, that the bitumen in certain peats is so coloured and diversified 
as to resemble dried roots. 
Darria, derrie, or darinck, derived from the Danish word darren, 
signifying to burn, he says, is a substance which, even at that 
time, was dug in Zealand, and chiefly in Wallaehia, for fuel. He 
describes it as a bitumious matter, thrown on shore by the sea, and 
which has been afterwards covered by the earth. At one time it 
was dug, with so much eagerness, for the salt, which, by certain pro- 
* Erasrai Eplstolae, lib. iii. f Csesalpin. lib. ii. cap. 53. 
X Brevis Comraentarius de Islandia, Hoolum. 1592. § Lib. iv. cap. 37. 
II Lib. iv. de Origine Rerum. 
^ Martini Schoockii Tractatus de Turfiis seu Cespiiibus bituminosis. Groningse, 1658. 
